The interplay between sperm-mediated and care-mediated paternal effects in threespine sticklebacks.

ABSTRACT: The environment experienced by one generation can influence the phenotypes of future generations. Because parental cues can be conveyed to offspring at multiple points in time, ranging from fertilization to posthatching/parturition, offspring can potentially receive multiple cues from their parents via different mechanisms. We have relatively little information regarding how different mechanisms operate in isolation and in tandem, but it is possible, for example, that offspring phenotypes induced by nongenetic changes to gametes may be amplified by, mitigated by, or depend upon parental care. Here, we manipulated paternal experience with predation risk prior to fertilization in threespine stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus, and then examined the potential of paternal care to mitiga

SUBMITTER: Hellmann JK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8513676 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature