1
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Dean CR, Mendonça MT, Navara KJ. Exogenous testosterone administration decreases rates of ovarian follicle growth in domestic chickens. Gen Comp Endocrinol 2022; 329:114121. [PMID: 36055396 DOI: 10.1016/j.ygcen.2022.114121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2022] [Revised: 08/25/2022] [Accepted: 08/26/2022] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
Avian egg yolks provide critical nutrients and energy reserves for a growing embryo. Once a follicle is selected into the ovulatory hierarchy, rings of yolk precursors are deposited daily until the yolk is large enough to ovulate. The composition of hen egg yolk and the mechanisms responsible for deposition in the ovarian follicle are well-studied. However, the factors that affect the rate of yolk deposition, and the number of days it takes for follicles to grow to the optimal size for ovulation, are less well-known. Social interactions appear to impact the rate of yolk deposition in many avian species and testosterone is a key hormone involved in regulating those interactions. Therefore, we hypothesized that testosterone would influence the rate of follicle growth. We tested the influences of exogenous testosterone treatment by rubbing either testosterone propionate cream (1.25 %) or a control cream to hen combs daily for 7 days to increase plasma testosterone concentrations. We then collected eggs and measured egg and yolk weight, yolk diameters, and stained and counted the number of concentric rings in each yolk. Testosterone-treated hens laid fewer eggs and grew their yolks more slowly than control hens. Testosterone also caused an increase in yolk weight but not yolk diameter. These results indicate that testosterone may play a role in the rate of yolk deposition in birds.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carsen R Dean
- Department of Poultry Science, The University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA
| | - Mary T Mendonça
- Department of Biological Sciences, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, USA
| | - Kristen J Navara
- Department of Poultry Science, The University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA.
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2
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Carter AW, Bowden RM, Paitz RT. Seasonal shifts in sex ratios are mediated by maternal effects and fluctuating incubation temperatures. Funct Ecol 2017; 31:876-884. [PMID: 28584392 PMCID: PMC5456293 DOI: 10.1111/1365-2435.12801] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Sex-specific maternal effects can be adaptive sources of phenotypic plasticity. Reptiles with temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD) are a powerful system to investigate such maternal effects because offspring phenotype, including sex, can be sensitive to maternal influences such as oestrogens and incubation temperatures.In red-eared slider turtles (Trachemys scripta), concentrations of maternally derived oestrogens and incubation temperatures increase across the nesting season; we wanted to determine if sex ratios shift in a seasonally concordant manner, creating the potential for sex-specific maternal effects, and to define the sex ratio reaction norms under fluctuating temperatures across the nesting season.Eggs from early and late season clutches were incubated under a range of thermally fluctuating temperatures, maternally derived oestradiol concentrations were quantified via radioimmunoassay, and hatchling sex was identified. We found that late season eggs had higher maternal oestrogen concentrations and were more likely to produce female hatchlings. The sex ratio reaction norm curves systematically varied with season, such that with even a slight increase in temperature (0.5°C), late season eggs produced up to 49% more females than early season eggs.We found a seasonal shift in sex ratios which creates the potential for sex-specific phenotypic matches across the nesting season driven by maternal effects. We also describe, for the first time, systematic variation in the sex ratio reaction norm curve within a single population in a species with TSD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amanda W. Carter
- School of Biological Sciences, Illinois State University, Normal, IL, United States
| | - Rachel M. Bowden
- School of Biological Sciences, Illinois State University, Normal, IL, United States
| | - Ryan T. Paitz
- School of Biological Sciences, Illinois State University, Normal, IL, United States
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3
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Parolini M, Romano A, Possenti CD, Caprioli M, Rubolini D, Saino N. Contrasting effects of increased yolk testosterone content on development and oxidative status in gull embryos. J Exp Biol 2017; 220:625-633. [DOI: 10.1242/jeb.145235] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/24/2016] [Accepted: 11/25/2016] [Indexed: 01/13/2023]
Abstract
ABSTRACT
Hormone-mediated maternal effects generate variation in offspring phenotype. In birds, maternal egg testosterone (T) exerts differential effects on offspring traits after hatching, suggesting that mothers experience a trade-off between contrasting T effects. However, there is very little information on T pre-natal effects. In the yellow-legged gull (Larus michahellis), we increased yolk T concentration within physiological limits and measured the effects on development and oxidative status of late-stage embryos. T-treated embryos had a larger body size but a smaller brain than controls. Males had a larger brain than females, controlling for overall size. T treatment differentially affected brain mass and total amount of pro-oxidants in the brain depending on laying order. T-treatment effects were not sex dependent. For the first time in the wild, we show contrasting T pre-natal effects on body mass and brain size. Hence, T may enforce trade-offs between different embryonic traits, but also within the same trait during different developmental periods.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marco Parolini
- Department of Biosciences, University of Milan, via Celoria 26, Milan I-20133, Italy
| | - Andrea Romano
- Department of Biosciences, University of Milan, via Celoria 26, Milan I-20133, Italy
| | | | - Manuela Caprioli
- Department of Biosciences, University of Milan, via Celoria 26, Milan I-20133, Italy
| | - Diego Rubolini
- Department of Biosciences, University of Milan, via Celoria 26, Milan I-20133, Italy
| | - Nicola Saino
- Department of Biosciences, University of Milan, via Celoria 26, Milan I-20133, Italy
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4
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Seasonal sex ratios and the evolution of temperature-dependent sex determination in oviparous lizards. Evol Ecol 2016. [DOI: 10.1007/s10682-016-9820-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
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5
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Duckworth RA, Belloni V, Anderson SR. Evolutionary ecology. Cycles of species replacement emerge from locally induced maternal effects on offspring behavior in a passerine bird. Science 2015; 347:875-7. [PMID: 25700519 DOI: 10.1126/science.1260154] [Citation(s) in RCA: 82] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
Abstract
An important question in ecology is how mechanistic processes occurring among individuals drive large-scale patterns of community formation and change. Here we show that in two species of bluebirds, cycles of replacement of one by the other emerge as an indirect consequence of maternal influence on offspring behavior in response to local resource availability. Sampling across broad temporal and spatial scales, we found that western bluebirds, the more competitive species, bias the birth order of offspring by sex in a way that influences offspring aggression and dispersal, setting the stage for rapid increases in population density that ultimately result in the replacement of their sister species. Our results provide insight into how predictable community dynamics can occur despite the contingency of local behavioral interactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Renée A Duckworth
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA.
| | - Virginia Belloni
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA. Department of Tropical Medicine, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA 70112, USA
| | - Samantha R Anderson
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
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6
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Offspring sex ratio varies with clutch size for female house wrens induced to lay supernumerary eggs. Behav Ecol 2013. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/art100] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
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7
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Badyaev AV. "Homeostatic hitchhiking": a mechanism for the evolutionary retention of complex adaptations. Integr Comp Biol 2013; 53:913-22. [PMID: 23868466 DOI: 10.1093/icb/ict084] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
The complexity of organismal organization channels and accommodates novel genomic and developmental modifications. Here, I extend this perspective to suggest that emergent processes that dominate homeostasis-co-option, re-use, and recombination of accumulated elements-can create configurations and dependencies among these elements that strongly reduce the number of evolutionary steps needed for the evolution of precise novel adaptations. Evolutionary retention and environmental matching of such configurations are further facilitated when they include elements of homeostasis that are responsive to particular environmental cues. I apply this perspective to the study of evolution of sex-biased egg-laying in birds, a phenomenon that combines precision, complexity, context-dependency, and reversibility. I show that homeostatic hitchhiking can overcome the main difficulty in the evolution of this adaptation-the perceived necessity of de novo co-evolution of oogenesis, sex-determination, and order of ovulation in each environmental context-something that would require unrealistic expectations of evolutionary rates and population sizes and is not a desirable outcome for a process that needs to retain substantial environmental sensitivity. First, I explain the rationale behind the homeostatic-hitchhiking hypothesis and outline its predictions specifically for studies of sex-bias in order of egg-laying. Second, I show that a combination of self-regulatory and emergent processes and ubiquitous re-use of conserved growth factors make oogenesis particularly amendable to homeostatic hitchhiking. Third, I review empirical evidence for this mechanism in the rapid evolution of adaptive sex-biased order of egg-laying that accompanied colonization of North America by the house finch (Carpodacus mexicanus).
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexander V Badyaev
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
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8
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Goerlich-Jansson VC, Muller MS, Groothuis TGG. Manipulation of Primary Sex Ratio in Birds: Lessons from the Homing Pigeon (Columba livia domestica). Integr Comp Biol 2013; 53:902-12. [DOI: 10.1093/icb/ict056] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
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9
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Bowers EK, Munclinger P, Bureš S, Kučerová L, Nádvorník P, Krist M. Cross-fostering eggs reveals that female collared flycatchers adjust clutch sex ratios according to parental ability to invest in offspring. Mol Ecol 2012; 22:215-28. [PMID: 23116299 DOI: 10.1111/mec.12106] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/11/2012] [Revised: 09/20/2012] [Accepted: 10/02/2012] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Across animal taxa, reproductive success is generally more variable and more strongly dependent upon body condition for males than for females; in such cases, parents able to produce offspring in above-average condition are predicted to produce sons, whereas parents unable to produce offspring in good condition should produce daughters. We tested this hypothesis in the collared flycatcher (Ficedula albicollis) by cross-fostering eggs among nests and using the condition of foster young that parents raised to fledging as a functional measure of their ability to produce fit offspring. As predicted, females raising heavier-than-average foster fledglings with their social mate initially produced male-biased primary sex ratios, whereas those raising lighter-than-average foster fledglings produced female-biased primary sex ratios. Females also produced male-biased clutches when mated to males with large secondary sexual characters (wing patches), and tended to produce male-biased clutches earlier within breeding seasons relative to females breeding later. However, females did not adjust the sex of individuals within their clutches; sex was distributed randomly with respect to egg size, laying order and paternity. Future research investigating the proximate mechanisms linking ecological contexts and the quality of offspring parents are able to produce with primary sex-ratio variation could provide fundamental insight into the evolution of context-dependent sex-ratio adjustment.
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Affiliation(s)
- E Keith Bowers
- Behavior, Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics Section, School of Biological Sciences, Illinois State University, Normal, IL, USA
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10
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Brown AC, Clotfelter ED. Fighting fish (Betta splendens) bubble nests do not inhibit microbial growth. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2012; 317:481-7. [PMID: 22753365 DOI: 10.1002/jez.1740] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/12/2011] [Revised: 04/27/2012] [Accepted: 05/18/2012] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Some organisms produce antimicrobial substances in nesting foam to favorably manipulate the environment to which their developing offspring are exposed. We tested if fighting fish Betta splendens foamy nest material, which is comprised of bubbles produced in the oral cavity of nesting males, has antimicrobial properties against a pathogenic bacteria (Edwardsiella tarda), a nonpathogenic bacteria (Escherichia coli), or a pathogenic oomycete (Saprolegnia parasitica). We also tested if exposure to nest material increases larval survival by performing in vitro fertilizations and individually incubating eggs in bubble nest extract or tank water (control). Our results show no evidence of antimicrobial properties of bubble nests. On the contrary, bubble nests provided favorable microenvironments for the growth of Saprolegnia parasitica. Our results confirm earlier work citing the importance of male nest attendance, and suggest that the mechanism responsible for decreased survival in the absence of attending males is pathogenic microbes.
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11
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Fossøy F, Moksnes A, Røskaft E, Antonov A, Dyrcz A, Moskat C, Ranke PS, Rutila J, Vikan JR, Stokke BG. Sex allocation in relation to host races in the brood-parasitic common cuckoo (Cuculus canorus). PLoS One 2012; 7:e36884. [PMID: 22615833 PMCID: PMC3352931 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0036884] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2012] [Accepted: 04/09/2012] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Sex allocation theory and empirical evidence both suggest that natural selection should favour maternal control of offspring sex ratio in relation to their ability to invest in the offspring. Generalist parasites constitute a particularly interesting group to test this theory as different females commonly utilize different host species showing large variation in provisioning ability. The common cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) is a generalist brood parasite that lays its eggs in the nest of many different passerine birds, but each female tends to specialize on one particular host species giving rise to highly specialized host races. The different host species show large variation in their ability to invest in the parasitic offspring, presenting an opportunity for female cuckoos to bias offspring sex ratio in relation to host species quality. Here, we investigate host-race specific sex allocation controlling for maternal identity in the common cuckoo. We found no evidence of any significant relationship between host race and sex ratio in one sympatric population harbouring three different host races, or in a total of five geographically separated populations. There was also no significant association between host quality, as determined by species-specific female host body mass, and cuckoo sex ratio. Finally, we found no significant relationship between individual cuckoo maternal quality, as determined by her egg volume, and sex ratio within each host race. We conclude that the generalist brood-parasitic common cuckoo show no significant sex-ratio bias in relation to host race and discuss this finding in light of gene flow and host adaptations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Frode Fossøy
- Department of Biology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, NTNU, Trondheim, Norway.
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12
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Duckworth RA, Sockman KW. Proximate mechanisms of behavioural inflexibility: implications for the evolution of personality traits. Funct Ecol 2012. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2435.2012.01966.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
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13
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Pinson SE, Wilson JL, Navara KJ. Elevated testosterone during meiotic segregation stimulates laying hens to produce more sons than daughters. Gen Comp Endocrinol 2011; 174:195-201. [PMID: 21925503 DOI: 10.1016/j.ygcen.2011.08.020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2011] [Revised: 08/22/2011] [Accepted: 08/24/2011] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Biases in avian sex ratios have been documented in relation to a variety of social and environmental conditions. Previous studies suggest that treatment with hormones can stimulate females to manipulate offspring sex, and that this effect occurs before ovulation. For example, acute and chronic treatments with testosterone stimulated significant skews towards male offspring. Hormones may act by influencing which sex chromosome is donated by the heterogametic female bird into the oocyte. However, it is difficult to pinpoint when effects of testosterone on offspring sex occurred in previous experiments because testosterone treatments were given either chronically over the entire period of follicular development or many hours before the critical period of chromosome segregation. We injected laying hens with testosterone injections 5 h prior to ovulation to target this critical period and quantified the sexes of the subsequently ovulated eggs. We hypothesized that an injection of testosterone coincident with segregation of sex chromosomes would stimulate hens to produce more male than female offspring. As hypothesized, hens injected with testosterone produced a significant bias towards male offspring compared to controls, nearly 70%. These results suggest that acute testosterone elevation during meiotic segregation may mediate skews in avian primary sex ratios.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sara E Pinson
- Department of Poultry Science, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA.
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14
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Stein LR, Badyaev AV. Evolution of eggshell structure during rapid range expansion in a passerine bird. Funct Ecol 2011. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2435.2011.01887.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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15
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Horváthová T, Nakagawa S, Uller T. Strategic female reproductive investment in response to male attractiveness in birds. Proc Biol Sci 2011; 279:163-70. [PMID: 21632630 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2011.0663] [Citation(s) in RCA: 122] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Life-history theory predicts that individuals should adjust their reproductive effort according to the expected fitness returns on investment. Because sexually selected male traits should provide honest information about male genetic or phenotypic quality, females may invest more when paired with attractive males. However, there is substantial disagreement in the literature whether such differential allocation is a general pattern. Using a comparative meta-regression approach, we show that female birds generally invest more into reproduction when paired with attractive males, both in terms of egg size and number as well as food provisioning. However, whereas females of species with bi-parental care tend to primarily increase the number of eggs when paired with attractive males, females of species with female-only care produce larger, but not more, eggs. These patterns may reflect adaptive differences in female allocation strategies arising from variation in the signal content of sexually selected male traits between systems of parental care. In contrast to reproductive effort, female allocation of immune-stimulants, anti-oxidants and androgens to the egg yolk was not consistently increased when mated to attractive males, which probably reflects the context-dependent costs and benefits of those yolk compounds to females and offspring.
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Affiliation(s)
- Terézia Horváthová
- Department of Zoology, Edward Grey Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PS, UK
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16
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Bonisoli-Alquati A, Boncoraglio G, Caprioli M, Saino N. Birth order, individual sex and sex of competitors determine the outcome of conflict among siblings over parental care. Proc Biol Sci 2010; 278:1273-9. [PMID: 20943688 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2010.1741] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Success in competition for limiting parental resources depends on the interplay between parental decisions over allocation of care and offspring traits. Birth order, individual sex and sex of competing siblings are major candidates as determinants of success in sib-sib competition, but experimental studies focusing on the combined effect of these factors on parent-offspring communication and within-brood competitive dynamics are rare. Here, we assessed individual food intake and body mass gain during feeding trials in barn swallow chicks differing for seniority and sex, and compared the intensity of their acoustic and postural solicitation (begging) displays. Begging intensity and success in competition depended on seniority in combination with individual sex and sex of the opponent. Junior chicks begged more than seniors, independently of satiation level (which was also experimentally manipulated), and obtained greater access to food. Females were generally weaker competitors than males. Individual sex and sex of the opponent also affected duration of begging bouts. Present results thus show that competition with siblings can make the rearing environment variably harsh for developing chicks, depending on individual sex, sex of competing broodmates and age ranking within the nest. They also suggest that parental decisions on the allocation of care and response of kin to signalling siblings may further contribute to the outcome of sibling competition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrea Bonisoli-Alquati
- Dipartimento di Biologia, Università degli Studi di Milano, via Celoria 26, I-20133 Milan, Italy.
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17
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Dijkstra C, Riedstra B, Dekker A, Goerlich VC, Daan S, Groothuis TGG. An adaptive annual rhythm in the sex of first pigeon eggs. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2010; 64:1393-1402. [PMID: 20730075 PMCID: PMC2920424 DOI: 10.1007/s00265-010-0954-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/06/2009] [Revised: 03/29/2010] [Accepted: 04/01/2010] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
When the reproductive value of male and female offspring varies differentially, parents are predicted to adjust the sex ratio of their offspring to maximize their fitness (Trivers and Willard, Science 179:90-92, 1973). Two factors have been repeatedly linked to skews in avian offspring sex ratio. First, laying date can affect offspring sex ratio when the sexes differ in age of first reproduction, such that the more slowly maturing sex is overproduced early in the season. Second, position of the egg in the laying sequence of a clutch may affect sex ratio bias since manipulating the sex of the first eggs may be least costly to the mother. We studied both factors in two non-domesticated pigeon species. Both the Wood pigeon (Columba palumbus) and the Rock pigeon (Columba livia) have long breeding seasons and lay two-egg clutches. In the field, we determined the sex of Wood pigeon nestlings. In Rock pigeons, housed in captivity outdoors, we determined embryo sex after 3 days of incubation. On the basis of their sex-specific age of first reproduction, we predicted that males, maturing at older age than females, should be produced in majority early and females later in the year. This was confirmed for both species. The bias was restricted to first eggs. Rock pigeons produced clutches throughout the year and show that the sex of the first egg followed an annual cycle. To our knowledge, this study presents the first evidence of a full annual rhythm in adaptive sex allocation in birds. We suggest that this reflects an endogenous seasonal program in primary sex ratio controlled by a preovulatory mechanism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cor Dijkstra
- Behavioural Biology, University of Groningen, P.O. Box 14, 9750 AA Haren, The Netherlands
| | - Bernd Riedstra
- Behavioural Biology, University of Groningen, P.O. Box 14, 9750 AA Haren, The Netherlands
| | - Arjan Dekker
- Behavioural Biology, University of Groningen, P.O. Box 14, 9750 AA Haren, The Netherlands
| | - Vivian C. Goerlich
- Behavioural Biology, University of Groningen, P.O. Box 14, 9750 AA Haren, The Netherlands
| | - Serge Daan
- Behavioural Biology, University of Groningen, P.O. Box 14, 9750 AA Haren, The Netherlands
| | - Ton G. G. Groothuis
- Behavioural Biology, University of Groningen, P.O. Box 14, 9750 AA Haren, The Netherlands
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18
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Martyka R, Rutkowska J, Cichoń M. Sex-specific effects of maternal immunization on yolk antibody transfer and offspring performance in zebra finches. Biol Lett 2010; 7:50-3. [PMID: 20667842 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2010.0549] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Trans-generational antibody transfer constitutes an important mechanism by which mothers may enhance offspring resistance to pathogens. Thus, differential antibody deposition may potentially allow a female to differentiate offspring performance. Here, we examined whether maternal immunization with sheep red blood cells (SRBC) prior to egg laying affects sex-specific yolk antibody transfer and sex-specific offspring performance in zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata). We showed that immunized mothers deposit anti-SRBC antibodies into the eggs depending on embryo sex and laying order, and that maternal exposure to SRBC positively affects the body size of female, but not male offspring. This is the first study reporting sex-specific consequences of maternal immunization on offspring performance, and suggests that antibody transfer may constitute an adaptive mechanism of maternal favouritism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rafał Martyka
- Institute of Environmental Sciences, Jagiellonian University, Gronostajowa 7, 30-387 Kraków, Poland.
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19
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Goerlich VC, Dijkstra C, Groothuis TGG. Effects of in vivo testosterone manipulation on ovarian morphology, follicular development, and follicle yolk testosterone in the homing pigeon. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2010; 313:328-38. [DOI: 10.1002/jez.600] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
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20
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No evidence for selective follicle abortion underlying primary sex ratio adjustment in pigeons. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2009; 64:599-606. [PMID: 20174439 PMCID: PMC2820215 DOI: 10.1007/s00265-009-0877-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/15/2009] [Revised: 09/10/2009] [Accepted: 10/20/2009] [Indexed: 01/15/2023]
Abstract
Primary sex ratio adjustment in birds has been extensively studied, yet the underlying physiological mechanisms are far from understood. Avian females are the heterogametic sex (ZW), and the future sex of the offspring is determined at chromosome segregation during meiosis I, shortly before the oocyte is ovulated. Assuming that the mother can detect the sex of the developing oocyte before ovulation, it has been suggested that a follicle of the un-preferred sex could selectively be induced to become atretic and regress instead of being ovulated (selective follicle abortion). This potential mechanism has been proposed to underlie biased primary sex ratios in birds, including the homing pigeon (Columba livia domestica), which produces a modal clutch size of two eggs. However, without replacement by an additional, already mature follicle, abortion of a preovulatory follicle would most likely result in either reduced clutch sizes or laying gaps, since a not-yet-recruited follicle still needed to undergo the whole maturation phase. In the current study we killed female pigeons, which were adjusting embryo sex of first eggs according to change in body mass. We examined ovaries for signs of follicle abortion but did not find any supporting evidence. All females produced one or two mature follicles but only two out of the 56 experimental birds produced an additional third mature follicle. Therefore, our results do not corroborate the hypothesis that pigeon mothers manipulate primary offspring sex by selectively aborting follicles of the un-preferred sex.
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21
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Reed W, Clark M, Vleck C. Maternal Effects Increase Within‐Family Variation in Offspring Survival. Am Nat 2009; 174:685-95. [DOI: 10.1086/605962] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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22
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Goerlich VC, Dijkstra C, Schaafsma SM, Groothuis TGG. Testosterone has a long-term effect on primary sex ratio of first eggs in pigeons--in search of a mechanism. Gen Comp Endocrinol 2009; 163:184-92. [PMID: 19344666 DOI: 10.1016/j.ygcen.2009.01.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 63] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/13/2008] [Revised: 12/18/2008] [Accepted: 01/13/2009] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Despite accumulating evidence that birds, in which females are the heterogametic sex, are able to manipulate primary offspring sex ratio, the underlying mechanism remains elusive. Steroid hormones, which govern female reproduction and are also accumulated by the developing follicle could potentially affect primary sex ratio by differential follicle development in relation to future sex and meiotic drive, or by sex specific influence on oocyte abortion or fertilization. So far, experimental results on the involvement of maternal testosterone (T) in offspring sex manipulation are ambiguous. To investigate the effect of T on primary sex ratio and elucidate underlying mechanisms, we elevated circulating T levels in female homing pigeons (Columba livia). During the course of the experiment females produced three clutches--before and during T implantation, and one year after implant removal. Intriguingly, first eggs, but not second eggs of T females were significantly male biased relative to sham-implanted controls. One year after cessation of the treatment the male bias was still present, indicating long-term effects on female reproductive physiology. T treatment did not affect maternal body condition, nor was body condition correlated with offspring sex ratio. Our data on timing of oviposition, lack of infertile eggs, and yolk weight indicate a possible role for sex specific follicle abortion, perhaps in combination with meiotic drive. However, despite T treatment elevating maternal plasma levels, egg yolk T concentrations did not differ between treatment groups and did not vary with embryo sex, suggesting that yolk T is not involved in meiotic drive.
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Affiliation(s)
- V C Goerlich
- Behavioral Biology, University of Groningen, Kerklaan 30, P.O. Box 14, 9750 AA Haren, The Netherlands.
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Badyaev AV. Evolutionary significance of phenotypic accommodation in novel environments: an empirical test of the Baldwin effect. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2009; 364:1125-41. [PMID: 19324617 PMCID: PMC2666683 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2008.0285] [Citation(s) in RCA: 127] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/03/2023] Open
Abstract
When faced with changing environments, organisms rapidly mount physiological and behavioural responses, accommodating new environmental inputs in their functioning. The ubiquity of this process contrasts with our ignorance of its evolutionary significance: whereas within-generation accommodation of novel external inputs has clear fitness consequences, current evolutionary theory cannot easily link functional importance and inheritance of novel accommodations. One hundred and twelve years ago, J. M. Baldwin, H. F. Osborn and C. L. Morgan proposed a process (later termed the Baldwin effect) by which non-heritable developmental accommodation of novel inputs, which makes an organism fit in its current environment, can become internalized in a lineage and affect the course of evolution. The defining features of this process are initial overproduction of random (with respect to fitness) developmental variation, followed by within-generation accommodation of a subset of this variation by developmental or functional systems ('organic selection'), ensuring the organism's fit and survival. Subsequent natural selection sorts among resultant developmental variants, which, if recurrent and consistently favoured, can be inherited when existing genetic variance includes developmental components of individual modifications or when the ability to accommodate novel inputs is itself heritable. Here, I show that this process is consistent with the origin of novel adaptations during colonization of North America by the house finch. The induction of developmental variation by novel environments of this species's expanding range was followed by homeostatic channelling, phenotypic accommodation and directional cross-generational transfer of a subset of induced developmental outcomes favoured by natural selection. These results emphasize three principal points. First, contemporary novel adaptations result mostly from reorganization of existing structures that shape newly expressed variation, giving natural selection an appearance of a creative force. Second, evolutionary innovations and maintenance of adaptations are different processes. Third, both the Baldwin and parental effects are probably a transient state in an evolutionary cycle connecting initial phenotypic retention of adaptive changes and their eventual genetic determination and, thus, the origin of adaptation and evolutionary change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexander V Badyaev
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA.
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Duckworth RA. Maternal effects and range expansion: a key factor in a dynamic process? Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2009; 364:1075-86. [PMID: 19324612 PMCID: PMC2666686 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2008.0294] [Citation(s) in RCA: 64] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Species that depend on ephemeral habitat often evolve distinct dispersal strategies in which the propensity to disperse is closely integrated with a suite of morphological, behavioural and physiological traits that influence colonizing ability. These strategies are maintained by natural selection resulting from spatial and temporal variation in resource abundance and are particularly evident during range expansion. Yet the mechanisms that maintain close alignment of such strategies with resource availability, integrate suites of dispersal traits and generate variability in dispersal propensity are rarely known. Breeding females can influence offspring phenotype in response to changes in current environmental conditions, making maternal effects uniquely suited to bridge fluctuations in resource abundance in the maternal generation and variation in offspring dispersal ability. Western bluebirds' (Sialia mexicana) dependence on nest cavities--an ephemeral resource--has led to the evolution of two distinct dispersal phenotypes: aggressive males that disperse and non-aggressive males that remain philopatric and cooperate with their relatives. Over the last 40 years, western bluebirds rapidly expanded their geographical range, providing us with an opportunity to test, in newly established populations, the importance of maternal effects for generating variability in dispersal propensity. Here, I show that, under variable resource conditions, breeding females group offspring of different competitive ability in different positions in the egg-laying order and, consequently, produce aggressive males that are more likely to disperse when resources are low and non-aggressive philopatric males when resources are abundant. I then show experimentally that the association between resource availability and sex-specific birth order is robust across populations. Thus, this maternal effect enables close tracking of resource availability and may explain how variation in dispersal is generated in newly colonized populations. More generally, these results suggest that, as a key source of variation in colonizing phenotypes, maternal effects are of crucial importance for understanding the dynamics of range expansion.
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Affiliation(s)
- Renée A Duckworth
- Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA.
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Oh KP, Badyaev AV. Isolation and characterization of 17 microsatellite loci for the house finch (Carpodacus mexicanus). Mol Ecol Resour 2009; 9:1029-31. [PMID: 21564828 DOI: 10.1111/j.1755-0998.2009.02555.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Abstract
The house finch (Carpodacus mexicanus) has emerged recently as a model species in studies of sexual selection, reproductive physiology, population genetics, and epizootic disease ecology. Here we describe 17 highly polymorphic microsatellite loci for this species. In a sample of 36 individuals, we observed an average of 16 alleles per locus and heterozygosity ranged from 0.61 to 0.97. One locus showed significant deviation from Hardy-Weinberg proportions, but no significant gametic disequilibrium was observed among any of the loci. Amplification by polymerase chain reaction was optimized under similar parameters across loci, thereby facilitating multiplexing and rapid multilocus genotyping.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kevin P Oh
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson 85721, AZ, USA
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26
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Evolution of "determinants" in sex-determination: a novel hypothesis for the origin of environmental contingencies in avian sex-bias. Semin Cell Dev Biol 2008; 20:304-12. [PMID: 19073270 DOI: 10.1016/j.semcdb.2008.11.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2008] [Revised: 11/18/2008] [Accepted: 11/19/2008] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
Sex-determination is commonly categorized as either "genetic" or "environmental"-a classification that obscures the origin of this dichotomy and the evolution of sex-determining factors. The current focus on static outcomes of sex-determination provides little insight into the dynamic developmental processes by which some mechanisms acquire the role of sex determinants. Systems that combine "genetic" pathways of sex-determination (i.e., sex chromosomes) with "environmental" pathways (e.g., epigenetically induced segregation distortion) provide an opportunity to examine the evolutionary relationships between the two classes of processes and, ultimately, illuminate the evolution of sex-determining systems. Taxa with sex chromosomes typically undergo an evolutionary reduction in size of one of the sex chromosomes due to suppressed recombination, resulting in pronounced dimorphism of the sex chromosomes, and setting the stage for emergence of epigenetic compensatory mechanisms regulating meiotic segregation of heteromorphic sex chromosomes. Here we propose that these dispersed and redundant regulatory mechanisms enable environmental contingency in genetic sex-determination in birds and account for frequently documented context-dependence in avian sex-determination. We examine the evolution of directionality in such sex-determination as a result of exposure of epigenetic regulators of meiosis to natural selection and identify a central role of hormones in integrating female reproductive homeostasis, resource allocation to oocytes, and offspring sex. This approach clarifies the evolutionary relationship between sex-specific molecular genetic mechanisms of sex-determination and non-sex-specific epigenetic regulators of meiosis and demonstrates that both can determine sex. Our perspective shows how non-sex-specific mechanisms can acquire sex-determining function and, by establishing the explicit link between physiological integration of oogenesis and sex-determination, opens new avenues to the studies of adaptive sex-bias and sex-specific resource allocation in species with genetic sex-determination.
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ROMANO M, CAPRIOLI M, AMBROSINI R, RUBOLINI D, FASOLA M, SAINO N. Maternal allocation strategies and differential effects of yolk carotenoids on the phenotype and viability of yellow-legged gull (Larus michahellis) chicks in relation to sex and laying order. J Evol Biol 2008; 21:1626-40. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1420-9101.2008.01599.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 48] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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Badyaev AV. Maternal effects as generators of evolutionary change: a reassessment. Ann N Y Acad Sci 2008; 1133:151-61. [PMID: 18559819 DOI: 10.1196/annals.1438.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 49] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
Abstract
Despite being a center of debate in biology for centuries, the connection between the generation of novel adaptive variation and its inheritance remains a contentious issue. In evolutionary and behavioral ecology, assigning natural and sexual selection a creative and anticipatory role unmasks the need to explicitly consider the link between a trait's functional importance and its inheritance and results in confusion about selection as an adaptive modifier of development versus selection as a passive filter of already produced forms. In developmental genetics, an emphasis on regulatory versus coding aspects of molecular evolutionary change overlooks the fundamental question of the origination of an inherited developmental toolkit and assignment of its regulatory functions. Because maternal effects, by definition, combine developmental induction of functionally important changes and their inheritance, they bridge the origin and evolution of organismal adaptability, at least on short time scales. The explosion of empirical studies of maternal effects raises a question--are maternal effects ubiquitous but short-term adjusters and fine-tuners of an evolved form with only secondary importance for evolutionary change? Or are they a particularly clear example of a stage in a continuum of inheritance systems that accumulates, internalizes, and passes on the most consistent and adaptive organism-environment interactions? Here I place recent empirical studies of avian maternal effects into the evolutionary framework of variation, selection, and inheritance to examine whether maternal effects provide a window into evolutionary processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexander V Badyaev
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA.
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Badyaev AV, Oh KP. Environmental induction and phenotypic retention of adaptive maternal effects. BMC Evol Biol 2008; 8:3. [PMID: 18182118 PMCID: PMC2231342 DOI: 10.1186/1471-2148-8-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2007] [Accepted: 01/09/2008] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The origin of complex adaptations is one of the most controversial questions in biology. Environmental induction of novel phenotypes, where phenotypic retention of adaptive developmental variation is enabled by organismal complexity and homeostasis, can be a starting point in the evolution of some adaptations, but empirical examples are rare. Comparisons of populations that differ in historical recurrence of environmental induction can offer insight into its evolutionary significance, and recent colonization of North America by the house finch (Carpodacus mexicanus) provides such an opportunity. RESULTS In both native (southern Arizona) and newly established (northern Montana, 18 generations) populations, breeding female finches exhibit the same complex adaptation - a sex-bias in ovulation sequence - in response to population-specific environmental stimulus of differing recurrence. We document that, in the new population, the adaptation is induced by a novel environment during females' first breeding and is subsequently retained across breeding attempts. In the native population, first-breeding females expressed a precise adaptive response to a recurrent environmental stimulus without environmental induction. We document strong selection on environmental cue recognition in both populations and find that rearrangement of the same proximate mechanism - clustering of oocytes that become males and females - can enable an adaptive response to distinct environmental stimuli. CONCLUSION The results show that developmental plasticity induced by novel environmental conditions confers significant fitness advantages to both maternal and offspring generations and might play an important role not only in the successful establishment of this invasive species across the widest ecological range of extant birds, but also can link environmental induction and genetic inheritance in the evolution of novel adaptations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexander V Badyaev
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
| | - Kevin P Oh
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
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