Inbreeding depression across multiple life history traits in a long-lived mammal

Inbreeding depression is widely recognized as a near-universal phenomenon of high conservation concern, particularly as wild populations continue to decline. However, most research to date has focused on early life stages, leaving later-life effects comparatively understudied, especially for wild populations of long-lived species. The Pyrenean brown bear (Ursus arctos), characterized by a small population, high levels of inbreeding, and conflicts with human activities, embodies the conservation challenges faced by many large mammals. We analyzed 27 years of monitoring data to quantify inbreeding depression across multiple life stages on survival, reproduction and dispersal. Our results reveal strong inbreeding depression effects, particularly in early life stages, including reduction in litter size and in natal dispersal distance. In adults, more inbred mothers exhibit lower cub survival. The cumulative effect of inbreeding, as measured by lifetime breeding success, also shows a negativ..., , README for the paper: Inbreeding depression across multiple life history traits in a long-lived mammal

GENETIC DATA

Dataset: genotypes_founders_new_set.txt

File Format:

```
Name: genotypes_founders_new_set.txt
Type: txt
Delimiter: tabulation
```

This dataset gives the genotypes for 23 microsatellite markers of 9 founders of the population. The missing values are coded as 0.

Dataset: genotypes_founders_old_set.txt

File Format:

```
Name: genotypes_founders_old_set.txt
Type: txt
Delimiter: tabulation
```

This dataset gives the genotypes for 11 microsatellite markers of 8 founders of the population. The missing values are coded as 0.

DEMOGRAPHIC DATA

Dataset: litter_size_dt.csv
File Format:

```
Name: litter_size_dt.csv
Type: CSV (Comma-Separated Values)
Delimiter: ,
```

Variables description:

```
-Birth_year (numeric): Year of birth of the bear.
-Id_mother (categorical): Anonymized identifier of the mother of the bear.
-Litter_size (numeric): Number of cubs in th...,