Transgenerational effects of parental light environment on progeny competitive performance and lifetime fitness.

ABSTRACT: Plant and animal parents may respond to environmental conditions such as resource stress by altering traits of their offspring via heritable non-genetic effects. While such transgenerational plasticity can result in progeny phenotypes that are functionally pre-adapted to the inducing environment, it is unclear whether such parental effects measurably enhance the adult competitive success and lifetime reproductive output of progeny, and whether they may also adversely affect fitness if offspring encounter contrasting conditions. In glasshouse experiments with inbred genotypes of the annual plant Polygonum persicaria, we tested the effects of parental shade versus sun on (a) competitive performance of progeny in shade, and (b) lifetime reproductive fitness of progeny in three contrasting tre

SUBMITTER: Baker BH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6365868 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature