Mothers determine offspring size in response to own juvenile growth conditions.

ABSTRACT: Through non-genetic maternal effects, mothers can tailor offspring phenotype to the environment in which young will grow up. If juvenile and adult ecologies differ, the conditions mothers experienced as juveniles may better predict their offspring's environment than the adult environment of mothers. In this case maternal decisions about investment in offspring quality should already be determined during the juvenile phase of mothers. I tested this hypothesis by manipulating juvenile and adult maternal environments independently in a cichlid fish. Females raised in a poor environment produced larger young than females raised without food limitations, irrespective of the feeding conditions experienced during adulthood. This maternal boost was due to a higher investment in eggs and to faster

SUBMITTER: Taborsky B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1618922 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature