Abstract
The importance of genotype by temperature interactions contributing to individual differences in nesting behavior has been demonstrated using two inbred strains ofMus musculus. Exposure to low ambient temperature increased amounts of cotton used by both the high-nesting (BALB/cJ) and low-nesting (C57BL/6J) strains. The larger total nesting scores of BALB/cJ mice compared to those of C57BL/6J mice resulted from differential increases, depending on temperature, in the amount of cotton used across days, so that the strain differences were greater in both rate of increase and total cotton used for animals tested at 5°C than for those tested at 26°C. The correlation between per gram food consumption and weight of nests was large and negative for animals tested at 5°C, and low for animals tested at 26°C, indicating a metabolic advantage in the cold for animals which built large nests. It is suggested that demonstration of a genotype-environment interaction contributing to differences among natural populations for a specific phenotype provides evidence that the character has been modified by selection acting through the environmental variable being studied.
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This investigation was supported in part by grant No. NS09536 from the National Institutes of Health.
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Lynch, C.B., Hegmann, J.P. Genetic differences influencing behavioral temperature regulation in small mammals. II. Genotype-environment interactions. Behav Genet 3, 145–154 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01067654
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01067654