Maternal effects as drivers of sibling competition in a parent-offspring conflict context? An experimental test.

ABSTRACT: Maternal effects occur when the mother's phenotype influences her offspring's phenotype. In birds, differential allocation in egg yolk components can allow mothers to compensate for the competitive disadvantage of junior chicks. We hypothesize that the parent-older chick conflict peaks at intermediate conditions: parents benefit from the younger chick(s) survival, but its death benefits the older chick in terms of growth and survival. We thus expect maternal compensation to follow a bell-shaped pattern in relation to environmental conditions. We studied a black-legged kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla) population where previous results revealed increased allocation of yolk testosterone in younger as compared to older chicks in intermediate conditions, in line with our theoretical framewor

SUBMITTER: Merkling T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5513303 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature