Data for: Effects of physical impairments on fitness correlates of the white-footed mouse, Peromyscus leucopus

Physical impairments are widely assumed to reduce viability of individual animals, but their impacts on individuals within natural populations of vertebrates are rarely quantified. By monitoring wild populations of white-footed mice over 26 years, we assessed whether missing or deformed limbs, tail, or eyes influenced the survival, body mass, movement, and ectoparasite burden of their bearers. Of the 27,244 individuals monitored, 543 (2%) had visible physical impairments. Persistence times (survival) were similar between mice with and without impairments. Mice with eye and tail impairments had 5% and 6% greater mass, respectively, than unimpaired mice. Mice with tail impairments had larger home ranges than did unimpaired mice. Burdens of black-legged ticks (Ixodes scapularis) were higher among mice with tail and limb impairments while burdens of bot fly larvae (Cuterebra) were higher among mice with cataracts compared to mice without impairments. Our findings do not support the presupposition that physical impairments reduce viability in their bearers and are inconsistent with the devaluation of impaired individuals that pervaded early thinking in evolutionary biology.

学界普遍认为躯体损伤会降低个体动物的生存适合度，但目前针对此类损伤对脊椎动物自然种群内个体的影响的量化研究仍较为匮乏。本研究通过对野生白足鼠种群开展长达26年的持续监测，评估了肢体、尾巴或眼睛出现缺失或畸形的躯体损伤是否会对宿主的存活率、体重、活动范围以及体外寄生虫负荷产生影响。在总计监测的27244只个体中，共有543只（占比2%）表现出可见躯体损伤。存在躯体损伤与无损伤的白足鼠的存续时长（即存活率）并无显著差异。存在眼部损伤与尾部损伤的个体，其体重分别比无损伤个体高出5%与6%。尾部损伤个体的家域范围显著大于无损伤个体。尾部与肢体损伤个体的黑腿蜱（Ixodes scapularis）寄生负荷更高；而相较于无损伤个体，患有白内障的个体的肤蝇幼虫（Cuterebra）寄生负荷更高。本研究结果不支持“躯体损伤会降低宿主生存适合度”这一预设前提，同时也与进化生物学早期研究中普遍存在的“损伤个体生存价值被贬低”的观点相悖。