Abstract
Maternal effects facilitate adaptation to changing environments because they alter individual offspring traits to match current conditions. We show that maternal effects can also resolve context-dependent, correlational selection on multiple offspring traits, promoting adaptation to more complex environments. In side-blotched lizards (Uta stansburiana), two alternative pathways of dorsal pattern induction involve maternal oestradiol and alleles for throat colouration ( approximately social strategy). In one pathway, females increased yolk oestradiol when mated to yellow-throated sires; oestradiol induced dorsal barring in yellow-throated progeny of both sexes. In another pathway, females elevated yolk oestradiol in response to a high frequency of orange alleles in experimental social neighbourhoods. When the sire lacked yellow alleles, this secondary pathway resulted in striped, orange sons and striped, non-orange daughters. All maternally induced types had high fitness in the wild. These results illustrate a (previously undescribed) mechanism for females to simultaneously resolve differing correlational selection pressures on different progeny.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 798-808 |
Number of pages | 11 |
Journal | Ecology Letters |
Volume | 10 |
Issue number | 9 |
Early online date | Jun 2007 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Sept 2007 |
Keywords
- Animals
- Breeding
- Ecosystem
- Egg Yolk
- Estradiol
- Female
- Genotype
- Lizards
- Male
- Oviparity
- Polymorphism, Genetic
- Selection, Genetic
- Sex Factors
- Skin Pigmentation
- Social Behavior