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 mat...

Maternal effects are ubiquitous in nature and affect a wide range of offspring phenotypes. Recent research suggests that maternal effects also contribute to ageing, but the theoretical basis for these observations is poorly understood. Here we develop a simple model to derive expectations for (i) if maternal effects on ageing evolve; (ii) the strength of maternal effects on ageing relative to d...

introduction preterm birth is still a major health problem throughout the world. preterm birth results in 75% of neonatal mortality. we sought to identify risk factors which cause preterm birth. materials and methods this cross-sectional study assessed all preterm neonates born in asali hospital in khorram abad (either by nvd or c/s) during the first 6 months of 2007. sampling method was census...

Variance components for birth, weaning, yearling and final weight in Australian Hereford, Angus and Zebu Cross cattle were estimated by Restricted Maximum Likelihood. Six different animal models were fitted for each trait and breed, ranging from a simple model with animals as the only random effect to the most comprehensive model allowing for both genetic and environmental maternal effects and ...

1. A BRIEF HISTORYOF ‘MATERNAL EFFECTSAS ADAPTATIONS’, 1998 It has been said that many original ideas reflect a convergence of related thought that coalesces into a unified representation of what many have been thinking. This is certainly true for the subfield of maternal effects evolution. The study of maternal effects has a long history. The first two papers reported in the ISI database deali...