Data from: Low heritability of nest construction in a wild bird

In birds and other taxa, nest construction varies considerably between and
within populations. Such variation is hypothesized to have an adaptive
(i.e. genetic) basis, but estimates of heritability in nest construction
are largely lacking. Here, we demonstrate with data collected over 10
years of 1010 nests built by blue tits in nest boxes that nest size
(height of nest material) and nest composition (proportion of feathers in
the nest) are repeatable but only weakly (12-13%) heritable female traits.
These findings imply that nest construction may evolve but only if
subjected to strong and consistent selection pressures.

在鸟类及其他分类群中，营巢行为在种群间与种群内部均存在显著变异。此类变异被推测具有适应性（即遗传）基础，但目前学界关于营巢行为遗传力的估算仍较为匮乏。本研究依托10年间采集的1010个青山雀（blue tit）在人工巢箱中营建的巢数据，证实巢材高度（营巢大小）与巢材组成（巢内羽毛占比）均为可重复的雌性繁殖性状，但其遗传力仅处于较低水平（12%~13%）。上述研究结果表明，营巢行为或可发生演化，但仅在受到强烈且持续的选择压力作用时方能实现。