98 CHAPTER 4provided depends on the mother’s physiological condition as well as her genotype.
Maternal effects like these are transmitted across only a few generations. They can
contribute to the resemblance between mothers and their offspring, but (unlike
genetic inheritance) do not contribute to major evolutionary change.
Traits with cultural inheritance are transmitted by behavior and learning. In
humans, many traits, including language, religion, and dietary preferences, are
strongly influenced by cultural inheritance (see Chapter 21). In songbirds, the
songs of many species are partly determined by what chicks hear during a critical
developmental period (FIGURE 4.22). An important difference between cultural
inheritance and other forms of nongenetic inheritance is that traits can be trans-
mitted between unrelated individuals (as well as between parents and offspring).
That fact is exploited by the advertising industry and politicians in their efforts to
persuade us to buy their products and to vote in certain ways.
Nongenetic inheritance has been crucial to the evolution of some traits in some
species. Human society would not be possible without cultural inheritance. For
the vast majority of life on Earth, however, evolutionary change results only from
genetic inheritance. For that reason, we concentrate on genetic change in this
book. There are, however, many fascinating aspects of nongenetic inheritance that
are studied in fields that include linguistics, psychology, and behavior.Futuyma Kirkpatrick Evolution, 4e
Sinauer Associates
Troutt Visual Services
Evolution4e_04.22_v2.ai Date 11-08-2016Lake
TahoeCalifornia-Nevada border50 km120° 119°39°38°FIGURE 4.22 Song dialects of white-crowned sparrows (Zonotrichia leucophrys)
illustrate cultural inheritance. Young males learn the local song dialect by hearing the
songs of their father and other males. The sonograms (shown inside boxes) plot sound
frequency against time for a typical song in each population [18].Go to the
Evolution Companion Website
EVoLUTIon 4 E.SInAUER.Com
for data analysis and simulation exercises, quizzes, and more.04_EVOL4E_CH04.indd 98 3/23/17 8:55 AM