The covariance between relatives for characters composed of components contributed by related individuals

Abstract

For some species in which family members are dependent on or are in close proximity to one another, a character may be composed of several conceptual components, some being contributed by related individuals. A general expression for the genotypic covariance between relatives is synthesized for such characters when mating is random. The relationships between individuals contributing to a measure of the character are important in defining the genotypic variance and the response to selection. A character of an offspring influenced by a maternal effect illustrates the expression.