The Contribution of Genetic and Environmental Maternal Effects to Life History Evolution

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9974126GallowayMaternal environments may influence the expression of traits in their offspring. These maternal effects can alter evolutionary change in response to selection, creating lag times, negative or cyclical responses, or lack of change. In addition, if genetically based, maternal environmental effects may themselves contribute to adaptive evolution. Despite theoretical and empirical results demonstrating the potential contribution of maternal effects to evolution, we know almost nothing about their prevalence in natural populations. The proposed research addresses this gap in our knowledge. Previous work with Campanula americana, an herbaceous plant, suggests that maternal effects contribute to the maintenance of annual and biennial life histories. Using a quantitative genetic approach, maternal genetic and environmental effects on life history will be evaluated. By carrying this approach to two environments, the explicit contribution of maternal environmental effects to adaptive evolution will be quantified. Investigating the interaction between maternal effects and response to selection will increase our understanding of multigenerational processes in evolution and the role of the environment in modifying evolutionary change. Understanding mechanisms of adaptive evolution is central for predicting response to environmental change.