Potti Jaime
Departamento de Biología Animal, Universidad de Alcalá, E-28871 Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain.
Evolution. 1999 Feb;53(1):279-285. doi: 10.1111/j.1558-5646.1999.tb05353.x.
Environmental conditions experienced during ontogeny may have important and permanent consequences for life-history traits of individuals. The aim of this work was to determine whether conditions experienced during early life, as expressed by prefledgling condition, have any bearing on the volume of eggs subsequently laid by females in a small passerine bird species, the pied flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca). I first show a genetic influence on egg volume by dam-offspring regression. The existence of maternal effects is shown by comparing resemblances between average egg volumes of offspring to those of their paternal and maternal grandmothers. Path analysis shows that when controlling for the influence of maternal egg volume, the average volume of eggs produced in a lifetime is positively related to the body condition of a female measured while she is still at the nest. Thus, body condition at fledgling affects egg volume beyond the ability of maternal egg volume to predict offspring egg volume. Although there may be a persistent maternal effect of egg volume on itself or linked to a property correlated with egg volume, the maternal performance trait involved remains unknown, except for maternal egg volume itself. Given the effects that egg volume may have on reproductive success, which are partly determined prior to leaving the nest, maternal effects may have important consequences for lifetime fitness of offspring.
个体在发育过程中所经历的环境条件可能会对其生活史特征产生重要且持久的影响。本研究的目的是确定幼鸟出飞前的状况所反映的早期生活经历，是否会对一种小型雀形目鸟类——斑姬鹟（Ficedula hypoleuca）的雌性个体随后所产蛋的体积产生影响。我首先通过母本-子代回归分析展示了基因对蛋体积的影响。通过比较子代平均蛋体积与其父系和母系祖母的平均蛋体积之间的相似性，证明了母体效应的存在。路径分析表明，在控制母体蛋体积的影响后，一生所产蛋的平均体积与雌性个体仍在巢中时所测量的身体状况呈正相关。因此，出飞时的身体状况对蛋体积的影响超出了母体蛋体积预测后代蛋体积的能力。尽管蛋体积可能会对自身或与蛋体积相关的特性产生持续的母体效应，但除了母体蛋体积本身外，所涉及的母体表现特征仍然未知。鉴于蛋体积可能对繁殖成功产生影响，而这部分影响在离巢前就已确定，母体效应可能会对后代的终生适合度产生重要影响。
