Fitness-related patterns of genetic variation in rhesus macaques

The patterning of quantitative genetic descriptions of genetic and residual variation for 15 skeletal and six life history traits was explored in a semi-free-ranging group of rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta Zimmerman 1780). I tested theoretical predictions that explain the magnitude of genetic and residual variation as a result of 1. strength of a trait's association with evolutionary fitness, or 2. developmental and physiological relationships among traits. I found skeletal traits had higher heritabilities and lower coefficients of residual variation than more developmentally and physiologically dependent life history traits. Total lifetime fertility had a modest heritability (0.336) in this population, and traits with stronger correlations to fitness had larger amounts of residual variance. Censoring records of poorly-performing individuals on lifetime fertility and lifespan substantially reduced their heritabilities. These results support models for the fitness-related patterning of genetic variation based on developmental and physiological relationships among traits rather than the action of selection eroding variation.