Maternal effects due to male attractiveness affect offspring development in the zebra finch.

L Gilbert, KA Williamson, Neil Hazon, Jefferson Alden Graves

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

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.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1765-1771
Number of pages7
JournalProceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B: Biological Sciences
Volume273
Issue number1595
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 22 Jul 2006

Keywords

  • maternal effects
  • mate attractiveness
  • egg resources
  • offspring development
  • zebra finch
  • Taeniopygia guttata
  • TAENIOPYGIA-GUTTATA
  • ULTRAVIOLET VISION
  • SEXUAL SELECTION
  • EGG INVESTMENT
  • TESTOSTERONE
  • ALLOCATION
  • ANDROGENS
  • GROWTH
  • PREFERENCES
  • HYPOTHESIS

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Maternal effects due to male attractiveness affect offspring development in the zebra finch.'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this