scholarly journals Sex matters: effects of sex and mating in the presence and absence of a protective microbe

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anke Kloock ◽  
Lena Peters ◽  
Charlotte Elizabeth Rafaluk-Mohr
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Lifetime Reproductive Success ◽  
Offspring Production ◽  
Behavioural Activity ◽  
Female Survival ◽  
Extended Lifespan ◽  
Female Investment ◽  
Host Life ◽  
Reproductive Events ◽  
Pathogenic Infection

In most animals, female investment in offspring production is greater than for males. Lifetime reproductive success (LRS) is predicted to be optimised in females through extended lifespans to maximise reproductive events. Extended lifespan can be achieved through increased investment in immunity. Males, however, maximise lifetime reproductive success by obtaining as many matings as possible. Microbe-mediated protection (MMP) is known to affect both immunity and reproduction, but whether the two sexes respond differently to the provision of MMP remains to be explored. Here, we investigated the sex-specific differences in host life history traits between female and male Caenorhabditis elegans following pathogenic infection with Staphylococcus aureus with or without MMP by Enterococcus faecalis. Overall, female survival decreased with increased mating. With MMP, females increased investment into offspring production, while males displayed higher behavioural activity. These results highlight the different strategies employed by the two sexes under pathogen infection with and without MMP.

scholarly journals Sex Matters: Effects of Sex and Mating in the Presence and Absence of a Protective Microbe

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anke Kloock ◽  
Lena Peters ◽  
Charlotte Rafaluk-Mohr
Keyword(s):  
Staphylococcus Aureus ◽  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Resource Availability ◽  
Behavioral Activity ◽  
Lifetime Reproductive Success ◽  
Offspring Production ◽  
Female Survival ◽  
Female Investment ◽  
Reproductive Events ◽  
Pathogenic Infection

In most animals, female investment in offspring production is greater than for males. Lifetime reproductive success (LRS) is predicted to be optimized in females through extended lifespans to maximize reproductive events by increased investment in immunity. Males, however, maximize lifetime reproductive success by obtaining as many matings as possible. In populations consisting of mainly hermaphrodites, optimization of reproductive success may be primarily influenced by gamete and resource availability. Microbe-mediated protection (MMP) is known to affect both immunity and reproduction, but whether sex influences the response to MMP remains to be explored. Here, we investigated the sex-specific differences in survival, behavior, and timing of offspring production between feminized hermaphrodite (female) and male Caenorhabditis elegans following pathogenic infection with Staphylococcus aureus with or without MMP by Enterococcus faecalis. Overall, female survival decreased with increased mating. With MMP, females increased investment into offspring production, while males displayed higher behavioral activity. MMP was furthermore able to dampen costs that females experience due to mating with males. These results demonstrate that strategies employed under pathogen infection with and without MMP are sex dependent.

Fungi with heteroxenous life histories

1995 ◽  
Vol 73 (S1) ◽  
pp. 1334-1342 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Malloch
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
Transmission Efficiency ◽  
Lifetime Reproductive Success ◽  
Population Densities ◽  
Frequency Distributions ◽  
Parasitic Fungi ◽  
Host Life ◽  
High Level ◽  
Dispersal Events

Heteroxenous (multiple host) life histories are characteristic of many groups of parasitic protista and animals, including Zoomastigina, Apicomplexa, Mesozoa, Platyhelminthes, Nematoda, Acanthocephala, Pentastomida, and Arthropoda. Parasitic fungi, including the Chytridiomycota and the Dikaryomycota (ascomycetes and basidiomycetes), may also have heteroxenous life histories and have many features in common with parasites from other groups. In spite of many conceptual similarities, the study of parasitic fungi has occurred in isolation, resulting in the creation of a separate vocabulary and literature. Many of the concepts developed by zoologists are useful to mycologists and allow examination of parasitic fungi from new perspectives. These new perspectives reveal that heteroxenous fungi are not only similar to heteroxenous protistans and animals but that they also have unique characteristics of their own. Chief among these is a high level of endocyclic asexual reproduction, a phenomenon promoting exponential increases of infections in definitive host populations. Heteroxeny appears to have a number of benefits including (i) increased lifetime reproductive success, (ii) increased transmission efficiency (iii) enhanced effectiveness in colonizing ephemeral or periodically appearing hosts and hosts occurring in low population densities, (iv) maintenance or enhancement of overdispersed frequency distributions in host populations, and (v) enhancement of genetic exchange through multiple dispersal events. Key words: fungi, heteroxenous, parasite, life histories.

Predicting adult lifespan and lifetime reproductive success from early-life reproductive events

2020 ◽  
Vol 167 (10) ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew J. Powers ◽  
Ryan J. Weaver ◽  
Kyle B. Heine ◽  
Geoffrey E. Hill
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Lifetime Reproductive Success ◽  
Adult Lifespan ◽  
Reproductive Events

Female survival, lifetime reproductive success and mating status in a passerine bird

Oecologia ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 138 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
L�szl� Zsolt Garamszegi ◽  
J�nos T�r�k ◽  
G�bor Michl ◽  
Anders Pape M�ller
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Passerine Bird ◽  
Lifetime Reproductive Success ◽  
Mating Status ◽  
Female Survival

The Breeding System of the Three-Spined Stickleback, Gasterosteus Aculeatus (Forma Leiura) With Reference To Spatial and Temporal Patterns of Nesting Activity

Behaviour ◽  
1993 ◽  
Vol 126 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 97-124 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sechi Mori
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Gasterosteus Aculeatus ◽  
Nest Building ◽  
Lifetime Reproductive Success ◽  
Spatial And Temporal Patterns ◽  
Small Stream ◽  
Nest Distribution ◽  
Nest Sites ◽  
Sexual Characteristics ◽  
Individual Success

Abstract1) The breeding succes of three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus L., forma leiura) males in a small stream of the Tsuya River, Gifu Prefecture, Central Japan, was studied with reference to timing of nesting initiation, use of space for nesting and social interactions. The observations were made almost daily during March to early July 1988 along the shore at a distance of 1-2 m from the fish and nests. 2) All the males in an enclosed study pool were individually marked (99 males). Furthermore, a total of 67 females were marked and observed weekly. The males were individually observed and their agonistic, courtship and parental behaviour as well as their reproductive success were quantified. Reproductive success of individual male was measured as the number of nests built, the number of successful nests, the number of hatched fry per nest. Nest sites were categorized in six types (A-F) on the basis of the proportion of vegetation cover around the nest and distance from the shore. 3) Body size and environmental factors (water temperature, water depth, changes in water level) were not correlated with reproductive success. Flooding was not a major cause of unsuccessful nesting. The brightness of nuptial colouration at the onset of breeding correlated significantly with individual success. Individual variation in the development of secondary sexual characteristics such as a nuptial colouration may have an important consequence for the lifetime reproductive success of the individuals. There was no relationship between fish density and reproductive success. 4) All males that nested more than once had begun breeding early in the season. The sooner a male started nest-building, the more opportunities he had to complete breeding cycles. 5) After an unsuccessful nest, males were significantly more likely to move their nest sites than after a successful nest. The subsequent nesting cycle was not always successful. 6) There was variation in nest-sitc location. The spatial pattern of nest distribution was strongly related to the temporal pattern, because the first males which settled, more often built their nests at sites along the shore where the nest was covered on one or two sides by vegetation. The location of nest site was significantly correlated with reproductive success. When males nested in partly concealed places along the shore, they could sometimes obtain a high reproductive success irrespective of the date of breeding initiation. Thus, reproductive success was largely determined by the timing of nest-building and nest position.

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