The contribution of maternal effects to selection response: an empirical test of competing models

Maternal effects can dramatically influence the evolutionary process, in some cases facilitating and in others hindering adaptive evolution. Maternal effects have been incorporated into quantitative genetic models using two theoretical frameworks: the variance-components approach, which partitions variance into direct and maternal components, and the trait-based approach, which assumes that maternal effects are mediated by specific maternal traits. Here, we demonstrate parallels between these models and test their ability to predict evolutionary change. First, we show that the two approaches predict equivalent responses to selection in the absence of maternal effects mediated by traits that are themselves maternally influenced. We also introduce a correction factor that may be applied when such cascading maternal effects are present. Second, we use several maternal effect models, as well as the standard breeder's equation, to predict evolution in response to artificial selection on flow...

母体效应（maternal effects）可显著影响进化过程，有时促进适应性进化，有时则阻碍其发生。母体效应已通过两种理论框架整合到数量遗传模型中：其一为方差成分法（variance-components approach），该方法将方差划分为直接成分与母体成分；其二为基于性状的方法（trait-based approach），其假设母体效应由特定母体性状介导。本文中，我们揭示了这些模型之间的相似性，并检验了它们预测进化变化的能力。首先，我们发现，当不存在由自身受母体影响的性状所介导的母体效应时，这两种方法对选择响应的预测结果等价。我们还引入了一个校正因子，可在存在此类级联母体效应时应用。其次，我们使用多种母体效应模型及标准育种者方程（breeder's equation），预测人工选择作用于flow...时的进化响应。