Environmental Components of Phenotypic Variation Dietary and Trans-Generational Effects on Behavior

Abstract

Phenotypic variation, or the total variation in a trait, and its components are of great importance in the fields of evolutionary and behavioral ecology. Phenotypic variation can be broken down into both environmental and genetic influences on that particular trait. However, due to an increasing trend of quantitative genetics in behavioral studies, researchers have begun to consider lesser studied components of phenotypic variation in addition to the commonly studied direct environmental and genetic influences. Some of these lesser studied components include maternal and paternal effects, or the effect that parental phenotype has on their offspring’s phenotype. In Chapter 1, I examine the impacts of direct environmental manipulation on cricket song production. For Chapter 2 however, instead of examining the direct environmental influence at the individual level, I examine, through meta-analysis, how the indirect environmental influences that occur at both the maternal and paternal level impact offspring phenotype across taxa.