Long-term consequences of maternal and sibling effects

The early developmental period of an organism is a sensitive period where organisational and activational effects occur and thus, small disturbances have important and long-lasting consequences. Parents can modify, to some extent, the abiotic and biotic conditions experienced by their offspring, during both the prenatal and postnatal stages through differential behavioural and/or physiological input. In this seminar, I will focus on prenatal effects, such as litter-sex composition and maternal programming for the future environment in yellow-bellied marmots (Marmota flaviventris), a ground-dwelling sciurid rodent.