Authors
Barbara Tschirren, Joanna Sendecka, Ton GG Groothuis, Lars Gustafsson, Blandine Doligez
Publication date
2009/10
Journal
The American Naturalist
Volume
174
Issue
4
Pages
557-564
Publisher
The University of Chicago Press
Description
Differential reproductive investment by the mother can critically influence offspring development and phenotype, and strong selection is therefore expected to act on such maternal effects. Although a genetic basis is a prerequisite for phenotypic traits to respond to selection and thus to evolve, we still know very little about the extent of heritable variation in maternal effects in natural populations. Here, we present the first estimates of intrafemale repeatability across breeding seasons and estimates of heritability of hormone‐mediated maternal effects in a wild population of collared flycatchers (Ficedula albicollis). We found that maternal yolk testosterone (T) concentrations, yolk mass, and egg mass were moderately to highly repeatable within females across years, whereas intrafemale consistency of maternal yolk androstenedione (A4) deposition was low yet statistically significant. Furthermore, maternal yolk T transfer …
Total citations
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Scholar articles
B Tschirren, J Sendecka, TGG Groothuis, L Gustafsson… - The American Naturalist, 2009