Adaptive Maternal Investment in the Wild? Links between Maternal Growth Trajectory and Offspring Size, Growth, and Survival in Contrasting Environments

<p>Parental investment per offspring is a key life history trait in which offspring size and number combinations are balanced in order to maximise fitness. When food is scarce and energy for reproduction is reduced, changes in reproductive allocation can be expected. These adjustments may go on to influence the growth and survival of the next generation. Trade-offs in reproductive allocation in response to food availability occurred differently in each of the three whelks species of this study. However, each species traded numbers of offspring rather than size of offspring when fed low food. Offspring size was more variable among and within capsules than among food treatments. Capsule size was a plastic trait that varied in response to food treatments in each of the species and varied among populations of the same species. Carry-over effects of maternal nutrition influenced juvenile growth in all three species. However, while juvenile growth was greater when adults were fed high food in two of the species, high adult food suppressed the growth of juveniles of the third species. This may be a mechanism to prevent potential negative consequences of rapid growth. There was no evidence of a maternal effect of mortality in any of the three species. Greater variation in hatchling size occurred in the species in which nurse egg feeding occurred. Nurse egg feeding may be a successful strategy in unpredictable environments where optimal offspring size changes from year to year. Regional differences in reproductive allocation between whelks separated by small distances suggest that populations may be isolated from one another and may need to be managed separately for conservation purposes. This study highlights the influence of maternal nutritional effects on life history and the potential impacts that these may have on population and community structure.</p>

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Reproductive Allocation and Maternal Investment in Intertidal Whelks

10.26686/wgtn.16992328.v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

◽

John Van der Sman

Keyword(s):

Life History ◽

Maternal Nutrition ◽

Maternal Investment ◽

Reproductive Allocation ◽

Life History Trait ◽

Offspring Size ◽

Juvenile Growth ◽

Negative Consequences ◽

Growth And Survival ◽

Trade Offs

<p>Parental investment per offspring is a key life history trait in which offspring size and number combinations are balanced in order to maximise fitness. When food is scarce and energy for reproduction is reduced, changes in reproductive allocation can be expected. These adjustments may go on to influence the growth and survival of the next generation. Trade-offs in reproductive allocation in response to food availability occurred differently in each of the three whelks species of this study. However, each species traded numbers of offspring rather than size of offspring when fed low food. Offspring size was more variable among and within capsules than among food treatments. Capsule size was a plastic trait that varied in response to food treatments in each of the species and varied among populations of the same species. Carry-over effects of maternal nutrition influenced juvenile growth in all three species. However, while juvenile growth was greater when adults were fed high food in two of the species, high adult food suppressed the growth of juveniles of the third species. This may be a mechanism to prevent potential negative consequences of rapid growth. There was no evidence of a maternal effect of mortality in any of the three species. Greater variation in hatchling size occurred in the species in which nurse egg feeding occurred. Nurse egg feeding may be a successful strategy in unpredictable environments where optimal offspring size changes from year to year. Regional differences in reproductive allocation between whelks separated by small distances suggest that populations may be isolated from one another and may need to be managed separately for conservation purposes. This study highlights the influence of maternal nutritional effects on life history and the potential impacts that these may have on population and community structure.</p>

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Utilization of Trash Fish for Cultivation of Crablet Mud Crab (Scylla serrata)

ILMU KELAUTAN Indonesian Journal of Marine Sciences ◽

10.14710/ik.ijms.25.3.110-114 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 25 (3) ◽

pp. 110-114

Author(s):

Heppi Iromo ◽

Dori Rachmawani ◽

Abdul Jabarsyah ◽

Zainuddin Zainuddin

Keyword(s):

Carapace Width ◽

Survival Rates ◽

Scylla Serrata ◽

Mud Crab ◽

Growth And Survival ◽

Weight Growth ◽

Randomized Design ◽

Trichiurus Lepturus ◽

Trash Fish ◽

In The Wild

The high demand for mud crabs in North Kalimantan causes catch to increase in the wild. If it is not balanced with efforts to increase its aquaculture of mud crab, in the future there will be a decline in population. This study aims to determine the growth and survival rate of mud crab seed (crablet, Scylla serrata) in the application method of different types of trash fish. This research used a completely randomized design with 4 treatments and 3 replications. The Crablet used carapace width average 0.07-0.09 cm and weigh average 0.05-0.07 g with total 150 crablets. The treatments applied by trash fish were (A) Tilapia Fish (Oreochromis mossambicus), (B) Longfin Herrings Fish (Ilisha elongata), (C) Sword Fish (Trichiurus lepturus) and (D) Snails (Telescopium telescopium). The results were The best weight growth of crablet occurs in the treatment of T. lepturus (P>0.05) and the highest of survival rates of crablet were found in treatment T. telescopium (P<0.05) than the other. The trash fish were used turned out to be able survival of crablet mud crab (Scylla serrata).

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Interplays between pre- and post-natal environments affect early-life mortality, body mass and telomere dynamics in the wild

Journal of Experimental Biology ◽

10.1242/jeb.231290 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 224 (1) ◽

pp. jeb231290

Author(s):

Tiia Kärkkäinen ◽

Pauliina Teerikorpi ◽

Wiebke Schuett ◽

Antoine Stier ◽

Toni Laaksonen

Keyword(s):

Telomere Length ◽

Early Life ◽

Maternal Investment ◽

Interactive Effects ◽

Hatching Order ◽

Hatching Synchrony ◽

Asynchronous Hatching ◽

In The Wild ◽

Developmental Conditions ◽

Telomere Dynamics

ABSTRACTEarly-life conditions are crucial determinants of phenotype and fitness. The effects of pre- and post-natal conditions on fitness prospects have been widely studied but their interactive effects have received less attention. In birds, asynchronous hatching creates challenging developmental conditions for the last-hatched chicks, but differential allocation in last-laid eggs might help to compensate this initial handicap. The relative importance and potential interaction between pre- and post-hatching developmental conditions for different fitness components remains mostly unknown. We manipulated hatching order in wild pied flycatchers (Ficedula hypoleuca), creating three groups: natural asynchrony (last-laid eggs hatching last), reversed asynchrony (last-laid eggs hatching first) and hatching synchrony (all eggs hatching at once). We examined the effects of these manipulations on early-life survival, growth and telomere length, a potential cellular biomarker of fitness prospects. Mortality was mostly affected by hatching order, with last-hatched chicks being more likely to die. Early-life telomere dynamics and growth were influenced by the interplays between laying and hatching order. Last-laid but first-hatched chicks were heavier but had shorter telomeres 5 days after hatching than their siblings, indicating rapid early growth with potential adverse consequences on telomere length. Synchronous chicks did not suffer any apparent cost of hatching synchronously. Impaired phenotypes only occurred when reversing the natural hatching order (i.e. developmental mismatch), suggesting that maternal investment in last-laid eggs might indeed counterbalance the initial handicap of last-hatched chicks. Our experimental study thus highlights that potential interplays between pre- and post-natal environments are likely to shape fitness prospects in the wild.

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Why does offspring size affect performance? Integrating metabolic scaling with life-history theory

Proceedings of The Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rspb.2015.1946 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 282 (1819) ◽

pp. 20151946 ◽

Cited By ~ 27

Author(s):

Amanda K. Pettersen ◽

Craig R. White ◽

Dustin J. Marshall

Keyword(s):

Life History ◽

Life History Theory ◽

Maternal Investment ◽

Offspring Size ◽

Metabolic Efficiency ◽

Metabolic Scaling ◽

And Performance ◽

The Relationship ◽

General Explanation ◽

Better Than

Within species, larger offspring typically outperform smaller offspring. While the relationship between offspring size and performance is ubiquitous, the cause of this relationship remains elusive. By linking metabolic and life-history theory, we provide a general explanation for why larger offspring perform better than smaller offspring. Using high-throughput respirometry arrays, we link metabolic rate to offspring size in two species of marine bryozoan. We found that metabolism scales allometrically with offspring size in both species: while larger offspring use absolutely more energy than smaller offspring, larger offspring use proportionally less of their maternally derived energy throughout the dependent, non-feeding phase. The increased metabolic efficiency of larger offspring while dependent on maternal investment may explain offspring size effects—larger offspring reach nutritional independence (feed for themselves) with a higher proportion of energy relative to structure than smaller offspring. These findings offer a potentially universal explanation for why larger offspring tend to perform better than smaller offspring but studies on other taxa are needed.

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The importance of microclimate variation in determining size, growth and survival of avian offspring: experimental evidence from a cavity nesting passerine

Oecologia ◽

10.1007/s00442-005-0075-7 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 144 (3) ◽

pp. 499-507 ◽

Cited By ~ 156

Author(s):

Russell D. Dawson ◽

Cheyenne C. Lawrie ◽

Erin L. O’Brien

Keyword(s):

Experimental Evidence ◽

Growth And Survival ◽

Cavity Nesting ◽

Size Growth ◽

Microclimate Variation

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Senescence impacts reproduction and maternal investment in bottlenose dolphins

Proceedings of The Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rspb.2018.1123 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 285 (1883) ◽

pp. 20181123 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Caitlin Karniski ◽

Ewa Krzyszczyk ◽

Janet Mann

Keyword(s):

Maternal Effect ◽

Maternal Age ◽

Mammalian Species ◽

Bottlenose Dolphins ◽

Maternal Investment ◽

Reproductive Value ◽

Lactation Period ◽

Reproductive Senescence ◽

Calf Survival ◽

In The Wild

Reproductive senescence is evident across many mammalian species. An emerging perspective considers components of reproductive senescence as evolutionarily distinct phenomena: fertility senescence and maternal-effect senescence. While fertility senescence is regarded as the ageing of reproductive physiology, maternal-effect senescence pertains to the declining capacity to provision and rear surviving offspring due to age. Both contribute to reproductive failure in utero making it difficult to differentiate between the two prenatally in the wild. We investigated both components in a long-lived mammal with prolonged maternal care through three parameters: calf survival, interbirth interval (IBI) and lactation period. We provide clear evidence for reproductive senescence in a wild population of bottlenose dolphins ( Tursiops aduncus ) using 34+ years of longitudinal data on 229 adult females and 562 calves. Calf survival decreased with maternal age, and calves with older mothers had lower survival than predicted by birth order, suggesting maternal-effect senescence. Both lactation period and IBIs increased with maternal age, and IBIs increased regardless of calf mortality, indicating interactions between fertility and maternal-effect senescence. Of calves that survived to weaning, last-born calves weaned later than earlier-born calves, evidence of terminal investment, a mitigating strategy given reduced reproductive value caused by either components of reproductive senescence.

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Pyruvate Formate Lyase Is Required for Pneumococcal Fermentative Metabolism and Virulence

Infection and Immunity ◽

10.1128/iai.00178-09 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 77 (12) ◽

pp. 5418-5427 ◽

Cited By ~ 36

Author(s):

Hasan Yesilkaya ◽

Francesca Spissu ◽

Sandra M. Carvalho ◽

Vanessa S. Terra ◽

Karen A. Homer ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Wild Type ◽

Product Analysis ◽

Acid Fermentation ◽

Pyruvate Formate Lyase ◽

Growth And Survival ◽

Mixed Acid Fermentation ◽

Mixed Acid ◽

Fermentative Metabolism ◽

In The Wild

ABSTRACT Knowledge of the in vivo physiology and metabolism of Streptococcus pneumoniae is limited, even though pneumococci rely on efficient acquisition and metabolism of the host nutrients for growth and survival. Because the nutrient-limited, hypoxic host tissues favor mixed-acid fermentation, we studied the role of the pneumococcal pyruvate formate lyase (PFL), a key enzyme in mixed-acid fermentation, which is activated posttranslationally by PFL-activating enzyme (PFL-AE). Mutations were introduced to two putative pfl genes, SPD0235 and SPD0420, and two putative pfl A genes, SPD0229 and SPD1774. End-product analysis showed that there was no formate, the main end product of the reaction catalyzed by PFL, produced by mutants defective in SPD0420 and SPD1774, indicating that SPD0420 codes for PFL and SPD1774 for putative PFL-AE. Expression of SPD0420 was elevated in galactose-containing medium in anaerobiosis compared to growth in glucose, and the mutation of SPD0420 resulted in the upregulation of fba and pyk, encoding, respectively, fructose 1,6-bisphosphate aldolase and pyruvate kinase, under the same conditions. In addition, an altered fatty acid composition was detected in SPD0420 and SPD1774 mutants. Mice infected intranasally with the SPD0420 and SPD1774 mutants survived significantly longer than the wild type-infected cohort, and bacteremia developed later in the mutant cohort than in the wild type-infected group. Furthermore, the numbers of CFU of the SPD0420 mutant were lower in the nasopharynx and the lungs after intranasal infection, and fewer numbers of mutant CFU than of wild-type CFU were recovered from blood specimens after intravenous infection. The results demonstrate that there is a direct link between pneumococcal fermentative metabolism and virulence.

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Effect of a carnivorous diet on the lipids, fatty acids and condition of Antarctic krill, Euphausia superba

Antarctic Science ◽

10.1017/s0954102007000259 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 19 (2) ◽

pp. 183-188 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Wilhelm Hagen ◽

Toshihiro Yoshida ◽

Patti Virtue ◽

So Kawaguchi ◽

Kerrie M. Swadling ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Fatty Acids ◽

Polar Lipid ◽

Antarctic Krill ◽

Euphausia Superba ◽

Dry Mass ◽

Fatty Acid Profiles ◽

Omega 3 ◽

Feeding Trial ◽

Growth And Survival ◽

In The Wild

AbstractKrill are thought to be predominantly herbivorous, but a heterotrophic diet might be crucial for their growth and survival. To compare the influence of herbivory and carnivory on krill we conducted a nine month feeding trial. We examined lipid composition of the hepatopancreas, abdomen and remaining body portions of krill fed diatoms at bloom condition levels, and diatoms with the addition of pellets or minced clam meat to simulate a partly carnivorous diet. Mortality, dry mass and lipid content were similar among treatments. We examined lipid class and fatty acid profiles, with emphasis placed on the ratio of storage (triacylglycerol) to structural (polar lipid) lipid and key essential omega 3 polyunsaturated fatty acids: 20:5ω3 and 22:6ω3. The triacylglycerol : polar lipid ratio increased in krill fed on the mixed diet as did the 20:5ω3 : 22:6ω3 ratio. Overall these findings indicate that provision of clam in the diet improved krill condition, and further suggest that carnivory may aid krill growth in the wild under certain environmental conditions.

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