Maternal Effects in Mammals

Evolutionary maternal effects occur whenever a mothers phenotypic traits directly affect her offsprings phenotype, independent of the offsprings genotype. Some of the phenotypic traits that result in maternal effects have a genetic basis, whereas others are environmentally determined. For example, the size of a litter produced by a mammalian mothera trait with a strong genetic basiscan affect the growth rate of her offspring, while a mothers dominance rankan environmentally determined traitcan affect the dominance rank of her offspring.The first volume published on the subject in more than a decade, Maternal Effects in Mammals reflects advances in genomic, ecological, and behavioral research, as well new understandings of the evolutionary interplay between mothers and their offspring. Dario Maestripieri and Jill M. Mateo bring together a learned group of contributors to synthesize the vast literature on a range of species, highlight evolutionary processes that were previously overlooked, and propose new avenues of research. Maternal Effects in Mammals will serve as the most comprehensive compendium on and stimulus for interdisciplinary treatments of mammalian maternal effects.