What is genetic quality?

Hunt, John; Bussière, Luc F.; Jennions, Michael D.; Brooks, Robert

doi:10.1016/j.tree.2004.03.035

Cited by 372 publications

(371 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…Hence, the positive relationship between sire body size (which showed significant heritability) and both growth rate and fecundity was easily explicable in their study (Reynolds & Gross 1992). Similarly, our findings indicate that sire ornamentation can have a positive influence on one aspect of offspring performance, although this trait may in turn show positive or negative correlations with other fitness-related components (van Noordwijk & de Jong 1986;Hunt et al 2004), including survival later in life (e.g. Brooks 2000).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 61%

Sire attractiveness influences offspring performance in guppies

Evans

Kelley

Bisazza

et al. 2004

Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B

110

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According to the good-genes hypothesis, females choose among males to ensure the inheritance of superior paternal genes by their offspring. Despite increasing support for this prediction, in some cases differential (non-genetic) maternal effects may obscure or amplify the relationship between paternal attractiveness and offspring quality. Artificial insemination controls such effects because it uncouples mate choice from copulation, therefore denying females the opportunity of assessing male attractiveness. We adopted this technique in the live-bearing fish Poecilia reticulata and examined whether paternal coloration was associated with the behavioural performance of newborn offspring. Sexually receptive virgin females were inseminated with sperm taken individually from donor males that exhibited high variation in the area of orange pigmentation, a trait known to influence female choice in the study population. Our analysis of offspring performance focused on the anti-predator behaviour of newborn fish, including schooling by sibling pairs, the response (swimming speed) of these fishes to a simulated avian predator, and the time taken for a naive investigator to capture the offspring. Although we found no significant effect of sire coloration on either schooling or swimming speed, our analysis revealed a significant positive association between sire coloration and the ability of newborn offspring to evade capture. This finding supports the view that at least one aspect of anti-predator behaviour in newborn offspring is influenced by sire genotype, which in turn is revealed by the expression of secondary sexual traits.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 61%

Sire attractiveness influences offspring performance in guppies

Evans

Kelley

Bisazza

et al. 2004

Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B

110

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show abstract

“…This observation could hypothetically arise for a number of different reasons. For instance, an individual's inherent genetic quality (sensu [1]) could largely determine its pre-hibernation fat load over the course of its life [12]. However, different pre-hibernation foraging strategies [13], resulting from parental [14] or environmental effects on development [15], could also cause individuals to repeatedly carry low fat loads.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An ontogenetic perspective on individual differences

2015

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Phenotypic differences among individuals can arise during any stage of life. Although several distinct processes underlying individual differences have been defined and studied (e.g. parental effects, senescence), we lack an explicit, unified perspective for understanding how these processes contribute separately and synergistically to observed variation in functional traits. We propose a conceptual framework based on a developmental view of lifehistory variation, linking each ontogenetic stage with the types of individual differences originating during that period. In our view, the salient differences among these types are encapsulated by three key criteria: timing of onset, when fitness consequences are realized, and potential for reversibility. To fill a critical gap in this framework, we formulate a new term to refer to individual differences generated during adulthood-reversible state effects. We define these as 'reversible changes in a functional trait resulting from life-history trade-offs during adulthood that affect fitness', highlighting how the adult phenotype can be repeatedly altered in response to environmental variation. Defining individual differences in terms of trade-offs allows explicit predictions regarding when and where fitness consequences should be expected. Moreover, viewing individual differences in a developmental context highlights how different processes can work in concert to shape phenotype and fitness, and lays a foundation for research linking individual differences to ecological and evolutionary theory.

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“…Total fitness is most clearly defined as the number of descendants produced by an individual relative to the average produced by other individuals in a population (Hunt et al 2004), and is affected by overall selection summed over several selective contexts (Hunt et al 2009;Lailvaux and Kasumovic 2011). As such, understanding the effects of a selective factor such as a pathogen on a given trait or traits in each of these broad contexts (e.g., natural selection versus sexual selection) is necessary if we are to understand how that factor ultimately affects total fitness.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fitness Consequences of Infection by Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis in Northern Leopard Frogs (Lithobates pipiens)

et al. 2013

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The amphibian chytrid fungus, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), has been linked to amphibian declines and extinctions worldwide. The pathogen has been found on amphibians throughout eastern North America, but has not been associated with mass die-offs in this region. In this study, we conducted laboratory experiments on the effects of Bd infection in a putative carrier species, Lithobates pipiens, using two estimators of fitness: jumping performance and testes morphology. Over the 8-week study period, peak acceleration during jumping was not significantly different between infected and uninfected animals. Peak velocity, however, was significantly lower for infected animals after 8 weeks. Two measures of sperm production, germinal epithelium depth, and maximum spermatic cyst diameter, showed no difference between infected and uninfected animals. The width, but not length, of testes of infected animals was significantly greater than in uninfected animals. This study is the first to show effects on whole-organism performance of Bd infection in post-metamorphic amphibians, and may have important long-term, evolutionary implications for amphibian populations co-existing with Bd infection.

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What is genetic quality?

Cited by 372 publications

References 35 publications

Sire attractiveness influences offspring performance in guppies

Sire attractiveness influences offspring performance in guppies

An ontogenetic perspective on individual differences

Fitness Consequences of Infection by Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis in Northern Leopard Frogs (Lithobates pipiens)

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