Maternal effects in mammals

• Other Authors: Maestripieri, Dario., Mateo, Jill M.
• Format: Electronic
• Language: English
• Published: Chicago : University of Chicago Press, Ã2009.
• Subjects: Mammals > Genetics.; Parental behavior in animals.; Mother and child.; Mammals.; Maternal Behavior.; SCIENCE > Zoology > Mammals. > Life Sciences; NATURE > Mammals. > Animals; Electronic books.
• Online Access: View fulltext via EzAccess
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (345 pages) : illustrations
• Bibliography: Includes bibliographical references and index.
• ISBN: 9780226501222 (electronic bk.); 0226501221 (electronic bk.)

Evolutionary maternal effects occur whenever a mother's phenotypic traits directly affect her offspring's phenotype, independent of the offspring's genotype. Some of the phenotypic traits that result in maternal effects have a genetic basis, whereas others are environmentally determined. For example, the size of a litter produced by a mammalian mother-a trait with a strong genetic basis-can affect the growth rate of her offspring, while a mother's dominance rank-an environmentally determined trait-can affect the dominance rank of her offspring. The first volume published on the sub.