Do Egg Hormones Have Fitness Consequences in Wild Birds? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

ABSTRACT: Egg-laying species are key models for understanding the adaptive significance of maternal effects, with egg hormones proposed as an important underlying mechanism. However, even thirty years after their discovery, the evolutionary consequences of hormone-mediated maternal effects remain unclear. Using evidence synthesis, we tested the extent to which increased prenatal maternal hormone deposition in eggs relates to fitness in wild birds (19 species, 438 effect sizes and 57 studies). Egg androgens, glucocorticoids, and thyroid hormones showed an overall near-zero mean effect for both maternal and offspring fitness proxies. However, heterogeneity was high, suggesting that egg hormone effects on fitness are context-dependent. Hormone type and age did not explain much of the observed variance,

SUBMITTER: Mentesana L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11920385 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature