Behavioral Ecology Blog

Just a quick update- I’m about 95% done with the genetics, and the analyses are coming along well. There are several things that seem to be true.

1. The animals move- alot. Remember I have 2 trappign grids, sseparated by 1/2 km. The current is that about 10 animals go from 1 grid to the other every generation.

2. Resultingly, I have had little sucess with the parentage analysis. I have at least 1 parent for about 80% of the juveniles, but 2 parents for only 10%. I have an area where I hope to get some of the missing parents, but there is really know way to predict where the might be.

3. While there is alot of movement- any given mouse if likely to have a relative someplace nearby. Maybe not a father or sibling/ but more like 1/2 sibling or uncle type. I’m still trying to reconcile how you can have both alot of disparsal AND kin structure. Any ideas??

4. There is at least some extra-pair mating. Meaning- they are not quite as monogamous as people have traditionally thougt.