The relative importance of genetic and nongenetic inheritance in traits of varying degree of plasticity in Callosobruchus maculatus

• Both genetic and nongenetic mechanisms of inheritance are important in the study of a trait’sresponse to environmental change. Here we address the question of whether the relativeimportance of these mechanisms is related to the degree of trait plasticity. We investigate theinfluence of additive genetic effects and non genetic parental effects in traits that differ in theirdegree of plasticity. We predicted that more plastic traits will be more amenable to parentaleffects, and genetic variation/covariance will be more difficult to detect. Our findings are in linewith predictions. We suggest that environment dependent parental effects may influence theevolution of a highly plastic trait to a greater extent than traits with low degrees of plasticity.Hence, due to difficulties in detecting genetic variance and covariances and the potential influenceof environment dependent parental effects on heritability, our ability to predict evolutionarychange in highly plastic traits may be limited.

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Biologi -- Evolutionsbiologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Biological Sciences -- Evolutionary Biology (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Plasticity

genetic variation

parental effects

host quality

seed beetle

Zooekologi

Animal Ecology

Publikations- och innehållstyp

vet (ämneskategori)

ovr (ämneskategori)