Fig. 4.

Hypothesized model in which ERα expression mediates the effect of morph on behavior. To demonstrate that the relationship between morph and behavior (c path; Upper) may be mediated by ERα expression, we aimed to show a significant relationship between morph and ERα expression (a path) and between ERα expression and behavior (b path). Mediation analysis with bootstrapping (20, 21) was then used to test whether the inclusion of ERα expression reduces or eliminates the direct relationship between morph and behavior (c’ path).