Natural selection acts in opposite ways on correlated hormonal mediators of prenatal maternal effects in a wild bird population

Maternal hormones are important mediators of prenatal maternal effects. Although many experimental studies have demonstrated their potency in shaping offspring phenotypes, we know remarkably little about their adaptive value. Using long‐term data on a wild collared flycatcher (Ficedula albicollis) p...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ecology letters 2014-10, Vol.17 (10), p.1310-1315
Main Authors: Tschirren, Barbara, Postma, Erik, Gustafsson, Lars, Groothuis, Ton G. G, Doligez, Blandine, Sorci, Gabriele
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adaptation
adaptive phenotypic plasticity
Androgens
androstenedione
Androstenedione - chemistry
Animals
Aves
Birds
Egg Yolk - chemistry
eggs
Evolution
Female
females
Fertility
Ficedula albicollis
Genetic Fitness
Life Sciences
Longevity
maintenance of variation
maternal effect
maternal effects
natural selection
phenotype
prenatal effects
progeny
Selection, Genetic
Songbirds - genetics
Songbirds - physiology
Sweden
testosterone
Testosterone - chemistry
trade-off
transgenerational effects
wild birds
yolk androgens
yolk hormones
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Maternal hormones are important mediators of prenatal maternal effects. Although many experimental studies have demonstrated their potency in shaping offspring phenotypes, we know remarkably little about their adaptive value. Using long‐term data on a wild collared flycatcher (Ficedula albicollis) population, we show that natural selection acts in opposite ways on two maternally derived androgens, yolk androstenedione (A4) and yolk testosterone (T). High yolk A4 concentrations are associated with higher fitness, whereas high yolk T concentrations are associated with lower fitness. Natural selection thus favours females that produce eggs with high A4 and low T concentrations. Importantly, however, there exists a positive (non‐genetic) correlation between A4 and T, which suggests that females are limited in their ability to reach this adaptive optimum. Thereby, these results provide strong evidence for an adaptive value of differential maternal androgen deposition, and a mechanistic explanation for the maintenance of variation in maternal investment in the wild.
ISSN:1461-023X
1461-0248
1461-0248
DOI:10.1111/ele.12339