Behaviour, ecology, and speciation in the house mouse

Abstract

The house mouse is a model organism that also provides an exciting natural setting to study different mechanisms and steps in the process of speciation. In this chapter I will discuss to what extent the consideration of ecology and behaviour has improved our understanding of the house mouse evolution, and has the potential to contribute to progress in our general understanding of mechanisms of speciation. I will address specifically two evolutionary processes: chromosomal evolution within Mus musculus domesticus and incipient speciation between M. m. domesticus and M. m. musculus. The house mouse is one of the most widespread mammals. It occurs on all continents and most islands and thrives in diversified habitats. It is a complex of subspecies (see Auffray and Britton-Davidian, Chapter 1 in this volume; Suzuki and Aplin, Chapter 2) and chromosomal races (due to centric fusions and other chromosomal rearrangements; see Hauffe et al., Chapter 16), and its association with human activities and dwellings strongly impacts its population dynamics and structure, resulting in patchily distributed small to large populations with connections that vary in intensity both in space and time. Its geographic and ecological characteristics are expected to favour diversification and make the house mouse an ideal model to test hypotheses related to behavioural and ecological speciation in a mammal. Moreover, chromosomal mutations and secondary contacts after evolution in allopatry provide natural evolutionary settings to test the role of selection in speciation.