Family secrets revealed: meta-analytical insights into non-genetic maternal and paternal effects

Dr hab. Joanna Rutkowska
Institute of Environmental Sciences, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland and  School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
Venue: Wednesday, 08.01.2020, 13:00, CeNT Lecture Theatre  0142.
Hosts: Marta Szulkin & Magdalena Niedziałkowska
How to get there: Lecture theatre 0142 is c. ~15 meters to the right after entering CeNT
Abstract:

In each sexually reproducing organism an individual has a mother and a father. Both parents might exert non-genetic effects on the offspring, but the research field of maternal effects is an order of magnitude bigger than the body of works on paternal effects. In the first part of my talk I will focus on sex-specific maternal effects in birds. I will present comparative and meta-analytical studies that bring new insights and revise some of the established views on egg sexual size dimorphism and hormonal effect on the avian offspring.

The research on paternal effects is still in its infancy, just at the right stage to be synthetized using systematic methods. In the second part of my talk, I will present evidence map of papers on paternal effects across plants and animals. Using studies from one grid of the map, in which a full-factorial dietary manipulation of both parents was carried-out, I will meta-analytically compare the relative strength of paternal, maternal and their synergistic effects in animals. The results will be discussed from the perspective of public health and species performance in rapidly changing habitats.