Attractive
male displays may advertise “good genes,”
resulting in high quality offspring for females that prefer such
displays. How does environmental variation affect the relationships between
male displays, “good genes,” and offspring fitness?
We are
investigating how “good genes” advertised gray tree frog call duration interact with the environment to influence
offspring fitness. Our
goals are to determine (1) the
relationship between male call duration and offspring fitness in
different environments, (2) the degree to which call duration of fathers
predicts call duration of their sons, and how environment and genotype
together influence call expression, and (3) how genotypes and condition
influence the allocation of resources to
reproduction.
Copyright ©
A. M. Welch, H. C. Gerhardt and M. J. Smith, 2005
