Nongenetic Selection and Nongenetic Inheritance

The Price Equation and Extended Inheritance

“…With the development of the Modern Synthesis, inheritance has become almost synonymous with the transmission of genetic material from parents to offspring (Mayr 1982;Sarkar 2006). In other words, both stability of phenotypic traits across generations within lineages and consistent differences between lineages have their origin in the genome (Mameli 2004(Mameli , 2005. Nevertheless, it is quite obvious that there is more to inheritance than transgenerational transmission of genetic material (Badyaev and Uller 2009;Boyd and Richerson 1985;CavalliSforza and Feldman 1981;Jablonka and Lamb 2005;Odling-Smee et al 2003;Oyama et al 2001).…”

Mother nature's tolerant ways: Why non-genetic inheritance has nothing to do with evolution

“…According to Mameli (2004), inheritance is about the preservation of similarity. Inheritance mechanisms, therefore, "are all those mechanisms that cause organisms to resemble their parents in phenotypic and/or genetic and/or environmental traits" (p.51).…”

“…The importance of the environment is emphasised in evolutionary psychology in which mismatches between the environment of evolutionary adaptedness and a particular organismic feature are often invoked to explain seemingly maladapted traits. By emphasising the positive possibility that features may be co-opted for or acquire different functions Mameli (2004) seems to offer a new path for evolution through environmental change. As we have argued, the flexibility displayed by the lucky butterfly and acted on by non-genetic selection in…”

Maternal Effects in a Wild Songbird Are Environmentally Plastic but Only Marginally Alter the Rate of Adaptation

“…There is increasing recognition among evolutionary biologists of nongenetic (Mameli 2004;Danchin et al 2011) or indirect genetic (Wolf et al 1998) mechanisms of inheritance that affect the dynamics of phenotypic adaptation in populations. One such example is that of maternal effects (Mousseau and Fox 1998).…”