Cryptic maternal effects inHippodamia convergensvary with maternal age and body size

2012 ◽  
Vol 146 (2) ◽  
pp. 302-311 ◽  
Author(s):  
German Vargas ◽  
J.P. Michaud ◽  
James R. Nechols
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Maternal Effects ◽  
Maternal Age

Maternal body size and age govern reproduction and offspring phenotype in the ladybird, Menochilus sexmaculatus

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shashwat Singh ◽  
Geetanjali Mishra ◽  
Omkar Omkar
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Maternal Effects ◽  
Maternal Age ◽  
Reproductive Output ◽  
Life History Traits ◽  
Middle Age ◽  
Adaptive Strategy ◽  
Egg Mass ◽  
Developmental Duration ◽  
Feeding Regimes

Maternal effects are possible channels through which mothers provision their offspring differentially, thereby affecting offspring phenotype. We investigated maternal effects in the ladybird, Menochilus sexmaculatus (Fabricius, 1781), in response to body size (induced by different feeding regimes during larval development) and their age within the reproductive cycle. Different sized females were permitted to mate and were provided with daily replenished ad libitum prey. Post mating, reproductive output and developmental duration of offspring from different oviposition days were recorded. We hypothesised that small females would lay smaller and fewer eggs than larger females, and that egg mass would also reduce with increased maternal age. In our study, the larger mothers laid more eggs per day. Small and large mothers oviposited maximally at middle age. Maternal age did not influence the egg mass, although it was slightly higher in the case of older, larger females. Offspring from old aged small and large mothers developed rapidly. This nimble development could be an adaptive strategy for the use of ephemeral aphid patches. The results of the study are indicative of this ladybird species’ ability to adjust their offspring’s life history traits, a feature more prominent in larger females.

scholarly journals Bigger mothers are better mothers: disentangling size-related prenatal and postnatal maternal effects

2013 ◽  
Vol 280 (1766) ◽  
pp. 20131225 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra Steiger
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Maternal Effects ◽  
Maternal Care ◽  
Genetic Effects ◽  
Offspring Size ◽  
Adult Size ◽  
Burying Beetle ◽  
Maternal Body ◽  
Maternal Size

Despite a vast literature on the factors controlling adult size, few studies have investigated how maternal size affects offspring size independent of direct genetic effects, thereby separating prenatal from postnatal influences. I used a novel experimental design that combined a cross-fostering approach with phenotypic manipulation of maternal body size that allowed me to disentangle prenatal and postnatal maternal effects. Using the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides as model organism, I found that a mother's body size affected egg size as well as the quality of postnatal maternal care, with larger mothers producing larger eggs and raising larger offspring than smaller females. However, with respect to the relative importance of prenatal and postnatal maternal effects on offspring growth, only the postnatal effects were important in determining offspring body size. Thus, prenatal effects can be offset by the quality of postnatal maternal care. This finding has implications for the coevolution of prenatal and postnatal maternal effects as they arise as a consequence of maternal body size. In general, my study provides evidence that there can be transgenerational phenotypic plasticity, with maternal size determining offspring size leading to a resemblance between mothers and their offspring above and beyond any direct genetic effects.

Body size and conformation in sheep from birth to maturity as affected by breed, crossbreeding, maternal and other factors

1974 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Wiener ◽  
Susan Hayter
Keyword(s):  
Body Weight ◽  
Body Size ◽  
Maternal Effects ◽  
Experimental Period ◽  
Body Parts ◽  
Residual Correlations ◽  
The Hill ◽  
Mature Size ◽  
Linear Body ◽  
Birth Type

SUMMARYBody weight was studied from birth to 5½ years of age and six linear measures of body size from birth to 4¼ years for sheep of five breeds, Scottish Blackface, Cheviot, Welsh Mountain, Lincoln Longwool and Southdown, and of crosses of these breeds with each other and with the Tasmanian Merino, but not in all possible combinations. The sheep were run as a single flock. Numbers ranged from 753 at birth to 150 at the end of the experimental period.There were marked differences among the breeds and crosses in all aspects of body size and some differences in rate of maturity. They also differed in conformation independently of body weight. Crosses of the hill breeds with the Lincoln and probably with the Southdown were heavier than the average of the parental breeds and larger in some linear body measurements from about weaning onwards. The weights of crosses of Blackface and Cheviot with Lincoln eventually exceeded those of the heavier parent of the cross. For the crosses among the three hill breeds only the Blackface Cheviot cross showed significant deviations from mid-parent values for weight and size.Maternal effects were important for all traits studied from birth to weaning and for weight up to a year old. In relation to mature size, Welsh dams produced the biggest and Lincoln the smallest lambs. The data did not permit Southdown maternal effects to be estimated. The effects of birth type and rearing were apparent for late maturing body parts up to a year old and for weight up to 3 years. Males, measured only from birth to weaning, were heavier and generally larger than females.Residual correlations between the various measures of size varied from 0·1 to 0·7.

scholarly journals Maternal age and maternal environment affect stress reactivity and measures of social behaviour in laying hens

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariana R. L. V. Peixoto ◽  
Leanne Cooley ◽  
Tina M. Widowski
Keyword(s):  
Stress Response ◽  
Maternal Effects ◽  
Social Stress ◽  
Maternal Age ◽  
Stress Reactivity ◽  
Laying Hens ◽  
Maternal Environment ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Commercial Breeder

Abstract Maternal effects can shape the phenotypes of offspring, but the extent to which a layer breeder’s experience can affect commercial laying hens remains unclear. We aimed to investigate the effects of maternal age and maternal environment on laying hens' behaviour and stress response. In our first experiment (E1), commercial hybrid hens were reared either in aviary or barren brooding cages, then housed in aviary, conventional cages or furnished (enriched) cages, thus forming different maternal housing treatments. Hens from each treatment were inseminated at three ages, and measures of response to manual restraint and social stress were assessed in offspring. In experiment 2 (E2), maternal age effects on offspring's stress response were further investigated using fertile eggs from commercial breeder flocks at three ages. In E1, maternal age affected struggling and corticosterone during manual restraint, feather pecking and pulling and comb wounds. Additionally, maternal rearing and housing in aviary systems showed positive effects on measures of behaviour and stress response in offspring. Effects of maternal age were not replicated in E2, possibly due to methodological differences or higher tolerance to maternal effects in commercial breeders. Overall, we recommend researchers start reporting parent stock's age to increase our understanding of the subject.

scholarly journals Body size divergence in nine-spined sticklebacks: disentangling additive genetic and maternal effects

2012 ◽  
Vol 107 (3) ◽  
pp. 521-528 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nurul Izza Ab Ghani ◽  
Gábor Herczeg ◽  
Juha Merilä
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Maternal Effects

scholarly journals Genetic and maternal variation for heat resistance in Drosophila from the field.

Genetics ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 137 (3) ◽  
pp. 783-789 ◽  
Author(s):  
N L Jenkins ◽  
A A Hoffmann
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Body Size ◽  
Heat Resistance ◽  
Maternal Effects ◽  
Maternal Effect ◽  
Morphological Traits ◽  
Wing Length ◽  
Regression Coefficients ◽  
Physiological Trait ◽  
Heritable Variation

Abstract In Drosophila, field heritability estimates have focused on morphological traits and ignored maternal effects. This study considers heritable variation and maternal effects in a physiological trait, heat resistance. Drosophila were collected from the field in Melbourne, Australia. Resistance was determined using knock-down time at 37 degrees. Drosophila melanogaster was more resistant than Drosophila simulans, and males tended to be more resistant than females. Field heritability and maternal effects were examined in D. simulans using the regression of laboratory-reared F1 and F2 onto field-collected parents. Males from the field were crossed to a laboratory stock to obtain progeny. The additive genetic component to variation in heat resistance was large and significant, and heritability was estimated to be around 0.5. A large maternal effect was also evident. Comparisons of regression coefficients suggested that the maternal effect was not associated with cytoplasmic factors. There was no correlation between body size (as measured by wing length) and heat resistance. Unlike in the case of morphological traits, the heritability for heat resistance in nature is not less than that measured in the laboratory.

scholarly journals The role of maternal age and context-dependent maternal effects in the offspring provisioning of a long-lived marine teleost

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 170966 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linsey M. Arnold ◽  
Wade D. Smith ◽  
Paul D. Spencer ◽  
Allison N. Evans ◽  
Scott A. Heppell ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Maternal Effects ◽  
Maternal Age ◽  
Narrow Range ◽  
Somatic Growth ◽  
Age Effects ◽  
Offspring Quality ◽  
Young Females ◽  
Context Dependent ◽  
Intrinsic Function

Despite evidence of maternal age effects in a number of teleost species, there have been challenges to the assertion that maternal age intrinsically influences offspring quality. From an evolutionary perspective, maternal age effects result in young females paradoxically investing in less fit offspring despite a greater potential fitness benefit that might be gained by allocating this energy to individual somatic growth. Although a narrow range of conditions could lead to a maternal fitness benefit via the production of lower quality offspring, evolutionary theorists suggest these conditions are seldom met and that the reported maternal age effects are more likely products of the environmental context. Our goal was to determine if maternal effects operated on offspring provisioning in a long-lived rockfish (genus Sebastes ), and to evaluate any such effects as an intrinsic function of maternal age or a context-dependent effect of the offspring release environment. We found that offspring provisioning is a function of both maternal age and the timing of offspring release; older females exhibit increased provisioning over younger females throughout the spawning season despite a decrease in provisioning across all maternal ages as the season progresses. These findings suggest a role for both maternal age effects and a potential context-dependent maternal effect in population productivity, carrying important implications when modelling population persistence and resilience.

Maternal effects mediated by maternal age: from life histories to population dynamics

2008 ◽  
Vol 77 (5) ◽  
pp. 1038-1046 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. G. Benton ◽  
J. J. H. St Clair ◽  
S. J. Plaistow
Keyword(s):  
Population Dynamics ◽  
Maternal Effects ◽  
Maternal Age ◽  
Life Histories
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