Gilbert, L. , Williamson, K.A., Hazon, N. and Graves, J.A. (2006) Maternal effects due to male attractiveness affect offspring development in the zebra finch. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B: Biological Sciences, 273(1595), pp. 1765-1771. (doi: 10.1098/rspb.2006.3520) (PMID:16790409) (PMCID:PMC1634786)
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Abstract
Maternal effects occur when offspring phenotype is influenced by environmental factors experienced by the mother. Mothers are predicted to invest differentially in offspring in ways that will maximize offspring fitness depending on the environment she expects them to encounter. Here, we test for maternal effects in response to mate attractiveness on offspring developmental traits in the zebra finch Taeniopygia guttata. We controlled for parental genetic quality by manipulating male attractiveness using coloured leg rings and by randomly assigning mating pairs. The potential confounding effect of differential nestling care was controlled for by cross-fostering clutches and by allowing for variance due to foster father attractiveness in general linear models. We found a difference in egg mass investment between attractiveness groups and, importantly, we found that all of the offspring traits we measured varied with the attractiveness of the father. This provides strong evidence for maternal effects in response to mate attractiveness. Furthermore, due to the experiment design, we can conclude that these effects were mediated by differential investment of egg resources and not due to genetic differences or differences in nestling care.
| Item Type: | Articles |
|---|---|
| Status: | Published |
| Refereed: | Yes |
| Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: | Gilbert, Dr Lucy |
| Authors: | Gilbert, L., Williamson, K.A., Hazon, N., and Graves, J.A. |
| College/School: | College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Biodiversity, One Health & Veterinary Medicine |
| Journal Name: | Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B: Biological Sciences |
| Publisher: | The Royal Society |
| ISSN: | 0962-8452 |
| ISSN (Online): | 1471-2954 |
| Published Online: | 11 April 2006 |
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