Parent-Offspring Conflicts

These flashcards cover key terms and concepts related to parent-offspring conflicts as discussed in the lecture.

Parent-offspring conflict

Disputes that arise when parents and their offspring have different interests regarding parental investment.

Parental investment

The amount and quality of resources (food, care, etc.) provided by parents to their offspring.

Siblicide

The act of one sibling killing another, often observed in species like blue-footed boobies under conditions of resource scarcity.

Genomic imprinting

A genetic phenomenon where only one allele of a gene is expressed while the other is suppressed, based on its parental origin.

Maternal-fetal conflict

A situation where the fetus and the mother have opposing interests regarding resource allocation during pregnancy.

Weaning period

The time when a mother reduces nursing to encourage the independence of her offspring.

Insulin-like Growth Factor II (IGF-2)

A growth factor linked to maternal investment in the fetus, which is influenced by whether the allele is paternal or maternal.

Paternal investment

Resources (time, care, etc.) provided by a father to his offspring, which can vary depending on genetic relatedness.

Physical cues in paternity

Observable characteristics that fathers may assess to determine their biological relationship with offspring.

Chorionic villus

Tissue in the placenta that increases surface area for the exchange of materials between mother and fetus.

Umbilical cord

The structure that connects the fetus to the placenta, supplying nutrients and oxygen while removing waste.

Optimal parental investment from offspring's perspective

An offspring's evolutionary interest is to maximize its own share of parental resources, sometimes at the expense of siblings, due to its 100% relatedness to itself.

Optimal parental investment from parent's perspective

A parent's evolutionary interest is to distribute resources equally among all offspring, maximizing the overall number of surviving descendants.

Fetal adaptations for nutrient acquisition

Evolutionary strategies developed by the fetus (e.g., producing hormones, increasing placental surface area) to actively siphon more resources from the mother.

Role of paternal genes in genomic imprinting

Paternally inherited genes, such as IGF-2, often promote increased fetal growth and maternal resource allocation, contributing to the maternal-fetal conflict.