Clutch quality is related to embryonic development duration, hatchling body size and telomere length in the spined toad (Bufo spinosus)

Abstract Reproductive success is often related to parental quality, a parameter expressed through various traits, such as site selection, mate selection and energetic investment in the eggs or progeny. Owing to the complex interactions between environmental and parental characteristics occurring at various stages of the reproductive event, it is often complicated to tease apart the relative contributions of these different factors to reproductive success. Study systems where these complex interactions are simplified (e.g. absence of parental care) can help us to understand how metrics of parental quality (e.g. gamete and egg quality) influence reproductive success. Using such a study system in a common garden experiment, we investigated the relationships between clutch hatching success (a proxy of clutch quality) and offspring quality in an amphibian species lacking post-oviposition parental care. We found a relationship between clutch quality and embryonic development duration and hatchling phenotype. We found that hatchling telomere length was linked to hatching success. These results suggest that clutch quality is linked to early life traits in larval amphibians and that deciphering the influence of parental traits on the patterns we detected is a promising avenue of research.

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The terrestrial breeding biology of the ranid rock frog Nannophrys ceylonensis

Behaviour ◽

10.1163/1568539042265653 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 141 (7) ◽

pp. 899-913 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

◽

Keyword(s):

Reproductive Success ◽

Parental Care ◽

Site Fidelity ◽

Nest Site ◽

Hatching Success ◽

Paternal Care ◽

Adult Males ◽

Nest Sites ◽

Nest Site Fidelity ◽

Males And Females

Abstract Nannophrys ceylonensis (Ranidae) is a terrestrial breeding anuran, found on wet vertical or near-vertical rock surfaces. Non-breeding adult males and females take refuge in separate crevices in the rock surfaces during the day and emerge at night to forage. Males can be polygynous; mating takes place inside crevices. Fathers exhibit paternal care for multiple clutches of eggs and guard eggs from predators. Paternal care of this species is obligatory; hatching success decreases without it. Females do not contribute to parental care. Males show nest site fidelity and defend territories against conspecifics. A scarcity of suitable nest sites may limit reproductive success in N. ceylonensis. Larvae hatch at Gosner stages 21-22 and leave their nests at stages 24-25 to live as truly terrestrial tadpoles, foraging on the rock surfaces near their natal nests.

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Effects of Calcium and pH on the Reproductive Success of Amnicola limosa (Gastropoda)

Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences ◽

10.1139/f90-194 ◽

1990 ◽

Vol 47 (9) ◽

pp. 1694-1699 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Margo A. Shaw ◽

Gerry L. Mackie

Keyword(s):

Reproductive Success ◽

Embryonic Development ◽

Water Chemistry ◽

Laboratory Experiments ◽

Calcium Concentration ◽

Hatching Success ◽

South Central ◽

Naturally Occurring ◽

Ph Range ◽

The Relationship

Field and laboratory experiments were designed to examine the relationship between water chemistry (especially pH and calcium) and the reproductive success of Amnicola limosa. Fecundity (no. eggs∙female−1) was positively correlated with lake buffering capacity (P = 0.002) in naturally occurring populations. We documented a 66% reduction in fecundity in lakes over a pH range of 7.6–5.8. However, fecundity was higher than expected in a highly-coloured, low-pH lake. The number of juveniles produced per egg was not related to any water chemistry variable (multiple R2 = 0.186). A laboratory experiment demonstrated that pH, and not calcium, was limiting embryonic development. All embryos held at pH 4.5 failed to hatch. Eggs held at pH 5.5 experienced reduced hatching success (P = 0.013) and delayed development (P < 0.001) compared with those held at pH 6.5. Length of newly hatched snails did not differ significantly between treatments (P = 0.891). The critical calcium concentration required for embryonic development in laboratory incubation lay between 0.14 and 1.11 mg∙L−1. This is well below the calcium concentration of acidifying lakes in south-central Ontario.

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Glucocorticoids, state-dependent reproductive investment and success in the face of danger in a long-lived bird

Journal of Ornithology ◽

10.1007/s10336-020-01847-9 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Kristina Noreikienė ◽

Kim Jaatinen ◽

Benjamin B. Steele ◽

Markus Öst

Keyword(s):

Predation Risk ◽

Telomere Length ◽

Clutch Size ◽

Body Condition ◽

Nest Predation ◽

Hatching Success ◽

Reproductive Investment ◽

Trade Off ◽

Relative Telomere Length ◽

Future Reproduction

AbstractGlucocorticoid hormones may mediate trade-offs between current and future reproduction. However, understanding their role is complicated by predation risk, which simultaneously affects the value of the current reproductive investment and elevates glucocorticoid levels. Here, we shed light on these issues in long-lived female Eiders (Somateria mollissima) by investigating how current reproductive investment (clutch size) and hatching success relate to faecal glucocorticoid metabolite [fGCM] level and residual reproductive value (minimum years of breeding experience, body condition, relative telomere length) under spatially variable predation risk. Our results showed a positive relationship between colony-specific predation risk and mean colony-specific fGCM levels. Clutch size and female fGCM were negatively correlated only under high nest predation and in females in good body condition, previously shown to have a longer life expectancy. We also found that younger females with longer telomeres had smaller clutches. The drop in hatching success with increasing fGCM levels was least pronounced under high nest predation risk, suggesting that elevated fGCM levels may allow females to ensure some reproductive success under such conditions. Hatching success was positively associated with female body condition, with relative telomere length, particularly in younger females, and with female minimum age, particularly under low predation risk, showing the utility of these metrics as indicators of individual quality. In line with a trade-off between current and future reproduction, our results show that high potential for future breeding prospects and increased predation risk shift the balance toward investment in future reproduction, with glucocorticoids playing a role in the resolution of this trade-off.

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Reproductive biology of Macleania rupestris (Ericaceae), a pollen-limited Neotropical cloud-forest species in Costa Rica

Journal of Tropical Ecology ◽

10.1017/s0266467410000064 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 26 (3) ◽

pp. 351-354 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Eric J. Fuchs ◽

Jeffrey Ross-Ibarra ◽

Gilbert Barrantes

Keyword(s):

Costa Rica ◽

Relative Humidity ◽

Reproductive Success ◽

Cloud Forest ◽

Fruit Production ◽

Foraging Activity ◽

High Altitudes ◽

Forest Species ◽

Effective Time ◽

Complex Interactions

The reproductive success of hummingbird-pollinated plants often depends on complex interactions between environmental conditions and pollinator biology (Navarro 1999, Stiles 1985, Wolf et al. 1976). The effect of environment on reproductive success of hummingbird-pollinated plants is particularly pronounced at high altitudes, where large daily fluctuations in temperature, relative humidity and solar radiation limit the effective time for photosynthesis (Cavieres et al. 2000) and affect foraging activity (Navarro 1999) and abundance of pollinators (Rahbek 1997). At high altitudes in the tropical cloud forests of Costa Rica these factors may have serious impacts on fruit production.

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More sires may enhance offspring fitness in Northern Map Turtles (Graptemys geographica)

Canadian Journal of Zoology ◽

10.1139/cjz-2012-0320 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 91 (8) ◽

pp. 581-588 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Nicola Banger ◽

Gabriel Blouin-Demers ◽

Grégory Bulté ◽

Stephen C. Lougheed

Keyword(s):

Sexual Selection ◽

Reproductive Success ◽

Hatching Success ◽

Locomotor Performance ◽

Conservative Estimate ◽

Genetic Quality ◽

Offspring Fitness ◽

Sexual Selection Theory ◽

Map Turtles ◽

Graptemys Geographica

Sexual selection theory predicts that males should be promiscuous to maximize their reproductive success, while females should be choosy. Yet females of many taxa often produce progeny sired by multiple males, indicating that promiscuity can be important for the reproductive success of females. Promiscuity may enhance the fitness of females if it increases the genetic quality, or the genetic variety, and thus the viability of their offspring. We quantified the number of sires per clutch in a population of Northern Map Turtles (Graptemys geographica (LeSueur, 1817)) in Lake Opinicon, Ontario, Canada, and tested whether the number of sires affects several metrics of viability in hatchlings. Based on the most conservative estimate, at least 71% of clutches in this population are sired by multiple males, but there was no evidence that larger clutches are sired by more males. Clutches sired by more males had higher hatching success and survival, but the differences were not statistically significant. We did not find any effect of the number of sires on hatchling morphology or locomotor performance. Collectively, our results partially support the hypothesis that promiscuity can increase the reproductive success of female Northern Map Turtles.

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The effects of cryogenically preserved sperm on the fertilization, embryonic development and hatching success of lumpfish C. lumpus

Aquaculture ◽

10.1016/j.aquaculture.2021.737466 ◽

2022 ◽

Vol 547 ◽

pp. 737466

Author(s):

Albert Kjartan Dagbjartarson Imsland ◽

Emily Purvis ◽

Helena C. Reinardy ◽

Lauri Kapari ◽

Ellie Jane Watts ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Embryonic Development ◽

Hatching Success

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Offspring telomere length in the long lived Alpine swift is negatively related to the age of their biological father and foster mother

Biology Letters ◽

10.1098/rsbl.2017.0188 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 13 (9) ◽

pp. 20170188 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

François Criscuolo ◽

Sandrine Zahn ◽

Pierre Bize

Keyword(s):

Parental Care ◽

Telomere Length ◽

Brood Size ◽

Foster Parents ◽

Growth Conditions ◽

Early Growth ◽

Foster Mother ◽

Biological Father ◽

Accumulation Of Damage ◽

Older Males

A growing body of studies is showing that offspring telomere length (TL) can be influenced by the age of their parents. Such a relationship might be explained by variation in TL at conception (gamete effect) and/or by alteration of early growth conditions in species providing parental care. In a long-lived bird with bi-parental care, the Alpine swift ( Apus melba ), we exchanged an uneven number of 2 to 4-day-old nestlings between pairs as part of a brood size manipulation. Nestling TL was measured at 50 days after hatching, which allowed investigation of the influence of the age of both their biological and foster parents on offspring TL, after controlling for the manipulation. Nestling TL was negatively related to the age of their biological father and foster mother. Nestling TL did not differ between enlarged and reduced broods. These findings suggest that offspring from older males were fertilized by gametes with shorter telomeres, presumably due to a greater cell division history or a longer accumulation of damage, and that older females may have provided poorer parental care to their offspring.

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Energy Expenditure in Reproductive Effort of Male and Female Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus)

The Auk ◽

10.1093/auk/105.3.553 ◽

1988 ◽

Vol 105 (3) ◽

pp. 553-564 ◽

Cited By ~ 20

Author(s):

Dianne H. Brunton

Keyword(s):

Reproductive Success ◽

Energy Expenditure ◽

Parental Care ◽

Breeding Season ◽

Reproductive Effort ◽

Mating Effort ◽

Parental Effort ◽

Nest Failure ◽

Male And Female ◽

Charadrius Vociferus

Abstract The reproductive investment strategies of the sexes during the breeding season are detailed for Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus), a monogamous plover. I measured the energy investments of the sexes in reproductive, mating, and parental effort. As predicted, males expend more mating effort than females; however, the sexes expend equal amounts of parental effort. Total energy expenditure in reproductive effort (mating and parental effort) during a successful nesting attempt was also equal for the sexes. However, early parental effort expenditures by females, early mating effort expenditures by males, and high rates of nest failure combine to result in female reproductive energy expenditures being significantly higher over the breeding season. This suggests that energy expenditure alone is not adequate for accurate comparisons of the relative investments of the sexes. Studies investigating male and female investments need to consider the degree and pattern of nest failures along with patterns of energy expenditure. The advantages to male and female Killdeer of sharing parental care is demonstrated using adult removal experiments. In general, a deserted parent expends more energy in parental effort than a bi-parental parent and has significantly lower reproductive success. However, males are able to hatch chicks, whereas females lose or abandon their nests within a few days of mate removal. Thus, monogamy in Killdeer appears to result from high nest failure rates, the necessity of two parents for any reproductive success, and the generalizable nature of Killdeer parental care.

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