Quantitative genetics of lifetime growth curves in a lizard

Abstract

Body size is an iconic trait in quantitative genetics. For species with indeterminate growth however, growth curve, a function-valued trait, is the actual trait of interest and requires a specialised framework to study its quantitative genetics. Here, we use such a framework in the common lizard (Zootoca vivipara), using two large datasets (wild and mesocosm populations) with pedigrees, decomposing the total heritability in growth dynamics into two components: the heritability of “intrinsic size” (being small or large across ages) and the heritability of the shape of growth curve. We found slower growth and larger asymptotic sizes in the wild population. We show very low to moderate heritabilities in the parameters of growth curves, varying across populations and sexes. We show a small to moderate heritability in the growth curves, with a stronger importance of the heritability in the shape of growth curves than on average intrinsic sizes. Genetic variation in growth curves differed between the two populations and sexes. Our results highlight the importance of discussing the full dynamics of growth by showing that there is more adaptive potential in the earlier ages for males and in the later ages for females, with differences between the studied populations.

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BibTeX RIS

BibTeX

@article{aragon2026quantitative,
  title = {{Quantitative genetics of lifetime growth curves in a lizard}},
  author = {Anaïs Aragon and Alexis Rutschmann and Murielle Richard and Elvire Bestion and Félix Pellerin and Laurane Winandy and Luis-Martin San Jose and Lucie Di Gesu and Élodie Darnet and Jehan Cribellier and Manuel Massot and Jean Clobert and Julien Cote and Pierre de Villemereuil},
  journal = {Evolution - International Journal of Organic Evolution},
  year = {2026},
  month = sep,
  doi = {10.1093/evolut/qpag114},
  url = {https://hal.science/hal-05762987v1},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}

RIS

TY  - JOUR
TI  - Quantitative genetics of lifetime growth curves in a lizard
AU  - Anaïs Aragon
AU  - Alexis Rutschmann
AU  - Murielle Richard
AU  - Elvire Bestion
AU  - Félix Pellerin
AU  - Laurane Winandy
AU  - Luis-Martin San Jose
AU  - Lucie Di Gesu
AU  - Élodie Darnet
AU  - Jehan Cribellier
AU  - Manuel Massot
AU  - Jean Clobert
AU  - Julien Cote
AU  - Pierre de Villemereuil
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/07
JO  - Evolution - International Journal of Organic Evolution
DO  - 10.1093/evolut/qpag114
UR  - https://hal.science/hal-05762987v1
AB  - Body size is an iconic trait in quantitative genetics. For species with indeterminate growth however, growth curve, a function-valued trait, is the actual trait of interest and requires a specialised framework to study its quantitative genetics. Here, we use such a framework in the common lizard (Zootoca vivipara), using two large datasets (wild and mesocosm populations) with pedigrees, decomposing the total heritability in growth dynamics into two components: the heritability of “intrinsic size” (being small or large across ages) and the heritability of the shape of growth curve. We found slower growth and larger asymptotic sizes in the wild population. We show very low to moderate heritabilities in the parameters of growth curves, varying across populations and sexes. We show a small to moderate heritability in the growth curves, with a stronger importance of the heritability in the shape of growth curves than on average intrinsic sizes. Genetic variation in growth curves differed between the two populations and sexes. Our results highlight the importance of discussing the full dynamics of growth by showing that there is more adaptive potential in the earlier ages for males and in the later ages for females, with differences between the studied populations.
SN  - 0014-3820
SN  - 1558-5646
ER  -

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