Meeting Abstract
Maternal effects of stress have been found to contribute to offspring phenotype and potentially influence offspring survival and fitness in many different species. Specifically, stress hormones like corticosterone (CORT) contributed by the mother in an embryonic environment have been shown to influence offspring morphology, growth, physiology, and behavior. Current studies are inconclusive as to the impact CORT has on offspring “personality” and how CORT can differentially impact the development of males and females. Using prairie lizards, Sceloporus consobrinus, as a model, we determined how exposure to CORT in the embryonic environment influenced offspring morphology, growth, stress response, and boldness. We expect to find significant phenotypic differences between treatments, but the direction of predicted phenotypic changes is unclear. Preliminary data indicate sex-specific differences hatchling body size among treatments as well as potential differences between early versus late clutches. These results will provide important clues to understand both short term and long term impacts of embryonic stress. These results will also provide a baseline for developing additional studies aimed at uncovering the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in translating maternal hormonal effects into offspring phenotypes.
