Data from: Does genetic diversity reduce sibling competition?

A corollary of this hypothesis is that mothers that mate multiply increase genetic variation within a clutch and gain benefits due to genetic diversity alone. Many studies have demonstrated that multiple mating can increase offspring performance, but most attribute this increase to sexual selection and the role of genetic variation has received less attention.

Here, we used a breeding design to generate populations of full-siblings, half-siblings and unrelated individuals of the solitary ascidian Ciona intestinalis. Importantly, we preclude the potentially confounding influences of maternal effects and sexual selection. We found that individuals in populations with greater genetic diversity had greater performance (metamorphic success, post-metamorphic survival and post-metamorphic size) than individuals in populations with lower genetic diversity.