Parasite-mediated inbreeding depression in wild red deer

Inbreeding depression is the reduction in fitness of inbred individuals relative to their more outbred counterparts. Parasitism also reduces fitness and is a route by which inbreeding depression may operate, yet the complete pathway from inbreeding to parasitism to fitness has almost never been documented in the wild. We investigated parasite-mediated inbreeding depression in a wild population of a large mammal (red deer, Cervus elaphus), using high-quality individual-level data on fitness in juveniles and adult females, longitudinal infection data for three gastrointestinal helminth parasites, and genomic inbreeding coefficients. We found evidence for parasite-mediated inbreeding depression via strongyle nematodes in juvenile survival, independent of direct adverse effects of inbreeding on survival and indirect effects of inbreeding on survival via birth weight. Inbreeding also reduced fitness in reproductive adults by reducing overwinter survival. Our study reveals three independent pathways by which inbreeding depresses fitness and highlights the rarely-studied route of parasitism.