Data from: Social selection acts on behavior and body mass but does not contribute to the total selection differential in Eastern chipmunks

Through social interactions, phenotypes of conspecifics can affect an
individual’s fitness, resulting in social selection. Social selection is
assumed to represent a strong and dynamic evolutionary force that can act
with or in opposition to natural selection. Few studies, however, have
estimated social selection and its contribution to total selection in the
wild. We estimated natural and social selection gradients on exploration,
docility, and body mass, and their contribution to selection
differentials, in a wild Eastern chipmunk population (Tamias striatus). We
applied trait-based multiple regression models derived from classical
phenotypic selection analyses, which allowed us to include several social
partners (i.e., neighbors). We detected social selection gradients on
female docility and male body mass, indicating that female with docile
neighbors and males with large neighbors had lower fitness. In both sexes,
social selection gradients varied with the season. However, we found no
phenotypic assortment or disassortment for the studied traits. Social
selection gradients, therefore, did not contribute to total selection
differentials, and natural selection alone could drive phenotypic changes.
Evaluating the factors that drive the evolution of the covariance between
interacting phenotypes is necessary to understand the role of social
selection as an evolutionary force.