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

9974126 gallowy母系环境可能影响其后代的性状表达。这些母系效应可以改变进化变化，以应对选择，造成滞后时间，负面或周期性反应，或缺乏变化。此外，如果以遗传为基础，母系环境影响本身可能有助于适应性进化。尽管理论和实证结果证明了母体效应对进化的潜在贡献，但我们对其在自然种群中的普遍程度几乎一无所知。拟议的研究解决了我们知识上的这一差距。先前对草本植物美洲大钟的研究表明，母体的影响有助于维持一年生和两年生的生活史。利用定量遗传方法，将评估母体遗传和环境对生活史的影响。通过将这种方法应用于两种环境，将量化母体环境效应对适应性进化的明确贡献。研究母系效应和选择反应之间的相互作用，将增加我们对进化中的多代过程和环境在改变进化变化中的作用的理解。了解适应性进化的机制是预测对环境变化的反应的核心。

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.