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In many animals, including humans, there is evidence suggesting that older parents transmit some of their senescent deterioration to their offspring, such that offspring produced by senescent parents tend to have reduced longevity and fitness. However, many aspects of such transgenerational effects of parental age remain poorly understood. In particular, while both maternal and paternal age at breeding has been found to affect offspring, it remains unclear whether maternal and paternal ages have interactive effects on offspring fitness. For example, what happens to offspring when both parents are old, or when one parent is old while the other is young? 

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This project will investigate, for the first time, how maternal and paternal ages interact to affect offspring longevity and fitness. The project will involve experiments with neriid flies (pictured below), in which we have previously found strong effects of both maternal and paternal ages at breeding on offspring.

Student benefits 

You will do cutting-edge research on a high-profile question in evolutionary genetics. Through this project, you will learn how to design and carry out experiments, how to carry out sophisticated statistical analysis, and how to write an influential scientific paper. Honours students in the Bonduriansky lab often publish their work in prestigious journals, such as The American Naturalist, Functional Ecology, Animal Behaviour, and Scientific Reports.

Honours students in the Bonduriansky lab often publish their work in prestigious journals, such as:

• The American Naturalist
• Functional Ecology
• Animal Behaviour
• Scientific Reports

Supervisor: Prof. Russell Bonduriansky