ArticleGenetics, selection, evolution : GSE2023
Genetic correlations of direct and indirect genetic components of social dominance with fitness and morphology traits in cattle.
Article in Genetics, selection, evolution : GSE, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 6 citations in OpenAlex.
- Lifetime fitness and annual survival are heritable and highly genetically correlated in a wild primate population.Evolution; international journal of organic evolution · 2026Article
- Genomic partitioning and functional dissection of inbreeding depression for stature in Brown Swiss cattle.Genetics, selection, evolution : GSE · 2026Article
- Lifetime fitness and annual survival are heritable and highly genetically correlated in a wild primate population.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Testosterone mediates life-history trade-offs in female mammals.Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2025Review
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundWithin the same species, individuals show marked variation in their social dominance. Studies on a handful of populations have indicated heritable genetic variation for this trait, which is determined by both the genetic background of the individual (direct genetic effect) and of its opponent (indirect genetic effect). However, the evolutionary consequences of selection for this trait are largely speculative, as it is not a usual target of selection in livestock populations. Moreover, studying social dominance presents the challenge of working with a phenotype with a mean value that cannot change in the population, as for every winner of an agonistic interaction there will necessarily be a loser. Thus, to investigate what could be the evolutionary response to selection for social dominance, it is necessary to focus on traits that might be correlated with it. This study investigated the genetic correlations of social dominance, both direct and indirect, with several morphology and fitness traits. We used a dataset of agonistic contests involving cattle (Bos taurus): during these contests, pairs of cows compete in ritualized interactions to assess social dominance. The outcomes of 37,996 dominance interactions performed by 8789 cows over 20 years were combined with individual data for fertility, mammary health, milk yield and morphology and analysed using bivariate animal models including indirect genetic effects.
resultsWe found that winning agonistic interactions has a positive genetic correlation with more developed frontal muscle mass, lower fertility, and poorer udder health. We also discovered that the trends of changes in the estimated breeding values of social dominance, udder health and more developed muscle mass were consistent with selection for social dominance in the population.
conclusionsWe present evidence that social dominance is genetically correlated with fitness traits, as well as empirical evidence of the possible evolutionary trade-offs between these traits. We show that it is feasible to estimate genetic correlations involving dyadic social traits.
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