Fitness benefits and heritability of long-term partnerships

Double degree PhD project (co-supervised by David Richardson & Simon Griffith)

In socially monogamous species, pair-bonds may persist over multiple breeding seasons, which can have important fitness consequences. Therefore, partnerships are of fundamental evolutionary importance, yet studies predominantly focus on the benefits of extra-pair copulations, making the framework of life-history evolution with regard to partnerships incomplete. Frigg is exploring why some partnerships are maintained whereas others are not using the socially monogamous Seychelles warbler as a model system.