scholarly journals Large mothers, but not large fathers, influence offspring number in a caridean shrimp

2018 ◽  
Vol 96 (10) ◽  
pp. 1106-1113 ◽  
Author(s):  
D.E. Sganga ◽  
C. Tropea ◽  
M. Valdora ◽  
M.F. Statti ◽  
L.S. López Greco

The relationship between parental mass and female reproductive output, as well as offspring quality, was studied in the red cherry shrimp (Neocaridina davidi (Bouvier, 1904)) under controlled laboratory conditions. Adult males and females of the same age were paired combining different shrimp masses. The number of hatched juveniles from large females was higher than that from small ones, but no influence of paternal mass was detected on this variable. Both the mass of newly hatched juveniles and their growth increment during a 60-day period were similar for all parental masses. Shrimps reached sexual maturity at the end of the growth period in all treatments, and their biochemical reserves (glycogen, lipid, and protein concentrations) were not associated with maternal and paternal masses. However, lipid concentration was higher in female offspring than in male offspring. The present results show that, unlike maternal mass, paternal mass had no effect on female reproductive output and offspring quality, suggesting that the contribution of males to offspring development was adequate regardless of male size.

2019 ◽  
Vol 374 (1768) ◽  
pp. 20180181 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carmen Emborski ◽  
Alexander S. Mikheyev

Parent-of-origin effects, whereby specific phenotypes are differentially inherited paternally or maternally, provide useful clues to better understand transgenerational effect transmission. Ancestral diet influences offspring phenotypes, including body composition and fitness. However, the specific role that mothers and fathers play in the transmission of altered phenotypes to male and female offspring remains unclear. We investigated the influence of the parent-of-origin's diet on adult progeny phenotypes and reproductive output for three generations in fruit flies ( Drosophila melanogaster ). Males and females reared on a control diet were exposed to the control diet or one of two altered (no- or high-) sugar treatment diets for a single generation. Flies from one of the two altered diet treatments were then mated to control flies in a full-factorial design to produce F 1 offspring and kept on control media for each following generation. We found parent-of-origin (triglyceride) and non-parent-of-origin (sugar) body composition effects, which were transgenerational and sex-specific. Additionally, we observed a negative correlation between intergenerational maternal reproductive output and triglyceride levels, suggesting that ancestral diet may affect fitness. This work demonstrates that ancestral diet can transmit altered phenotypes in a parent-of-origin and sex-specific manner and highlights that mechanisms regulating such transmission have been greatly overlooked. This article is part of the theme issue ‘The role of plasticity in phenotypic adaptation to rapid environmental change’.


1984 ◽  
Vol 62 (7) ◽  
pp. 1387-1396
Author(s):  
James E. O'Hara

Baeomyia n.g. is described for a group of small (2–3 mm long) tachinids belonging to the Siphona group of the Siphonini. All known specimens were collected in western North America, with two species recorded from southern British Columbia (Baeomyia xanthogaster n. sp. and Baeomyia juniperi n. sp.) and three species recorded from desert localities in the American Southwest (type-species Baeomyia hurdi (Reinhard), Baeomyia antennata n. sp. and Baeomyia sonorensis n. sp.). Keys to adult males and females are provided for separation of species. Systematics of the Siphonini and Siphona group are reviewed, including a discussion of the synapomorphies upon which each is defined. Baeomyia species are inferred to form a monophyletic taxon within the Siphona group on the basis of five synapomorphies, though the relationship between the genus and other Siphona group taxa is unresolved. The apparent disjunction of Baeomyia species into northern and southern ranges may be the result of relatively recent speciation events, because differences among species are slight. A detailed zoogeographic analysis of the distribution pattern must await further phylogenetic data.


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 74-78
Author(s):  
Pasquale Caponnetto ◽  
Lucio Inguscio ◽  
Maria Riolo ◽  
Marilena Maglia ◽  
Carlo Lai

Background: Our planet’s recent ecologic perturbation solicited the researchers to deepen their analysis of environmental impacts. The concept of Life Satisfaction (LS) described as the degree to which a person positively evaluates the overall quality of his/her life as-a-whole. Objective: This study examined the relationship between ecological intelligence and perceived life satisfaction. Materials and Methods: 1025 adult males and females were selected for the study through an online announcement. The research was carried out in a single phase and participants completed Life Satisfaction and Ecological Intelligence questionnaires. Results: A statistically meaningful and satisfying outcome emerged from the relationship between Life Satisfaction and Ecological Intelligence. Additional important final results marked a positive relationship between Ecological Intelligence and the education level. Conclusion: The conclusions of statistical interpretation of the data highlight the urge to revitalize the citizens’ sense of respect of the environment, in order to reach two fundamental aims of mankind life: to love our own planet and to feel calm along one’s own life path.


Behaviour ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 147 (9) ◽  
pp. 1145-1167 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  

AbstractIn many social sciurids, male territoriality confers significant mating advantages. We evaluated resident male paternity in Gunnison's prairie dogs (Cynomys gunnisoni), a colonial ground-dwelling sciurid, where males and females cooperatively defend territories. Contrary to findings reported for other social sciurids, our results show that territorial resident males do not gain significant reproductive advantages. Resident males sired the majority of offspring from their respective territories only 10.5% of the time. A single non-resident male sired equal or greater number of offspring than any single resident male 71.2% of the time. While adult males were more likely to sire a greater number of offspring, standard heterozygosity, body mass, and territory size were not significant predictors of how many offspring a male sired. In addition, the number of other males present did not influence the number of offspring sired by any given resident male. However, territory size was significantly correlated with overall offspring number and mean litter size per female, suggesting a potential reproductive advantage for females that occupy larger, better quality territories. Previous work has demonstrated that the cooperative defence of territories by both males and females permits enhanced access to food resources critical to overwinter survival. Our results have important implications for studies that do not distinguish between social and mating systems, because they suggest that individual mating strategies may be different from the social strategies that emerge in response to resource availability.


1969 ◽  
Vol 101 (3) ◽  
pp. 314-327 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. K. Mukerji ◽  
E. J. LeRoux

AbstractExperiments were carried out to determine the effect of age on the functional response of the pentatomid predator Podisus maculiventris (Say), reared in a simple glass jar universe on different prey sizes of Galleria mellonella (L.). Holling’s (1959) ’disc’ equation accurately described the predator’s response at all prey sizes up to 50 days of life. For nymphs, the calculated ’rate of discovery’, a, increased as the predator age increased, but the time of handling prey, b, decreased; for both adult males and females, these calculated values increased gradually up to the 50th day. The relationship between predator age and numbers of prey killed, and predator age and amount of prey body contents consumed (food consumption), was linear at all prey sizes, but mainly negatively so. Prey size was an important component of the predation process for all stages of the predator.It is concluded that ’hunger’ is an important parameter of the attack model since the degree of predator satiation bears directly on b-type activities which in turn affects a-type activities. These findings indicate that under field conditions P. maculiventris will kill more small-sized lepidopterous prey larvae than large-sized ones, and that, because of the greater prey defense of the latter, their survival from predator attacks will increase. These actions may be of considerable importance in the survival of lepidopterous host species.


2009 ◽  
Vol 69 (1) ◽  
pp. 137-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
JC. Niemeyer ◽  
VC. Santos ◽  
PB. Araújo ◽  
EM. da Silva

Reproduction of the isopod Cubaris murina was studied in the laboratory in order to observe the offspring number per brood, the number and duration of the incubation periods, and the influence of repeated mating on number of young per brood. An experiment was conducted with two different groups: female/male pairs and females that were isolated after mating. No significant difference was found between the two reproductive female groups for the mean number of young per brood (x = 25) and the duration of the incubation periods (x = 17 days). One mating was enough for at least five broods, with no reduction in brood size. There was no significant difference between the number of adult males and females. Low-density cultures had a significantly higher growth rate compared to high-density cultures. Furthermore, the experimental results for optimization isopod culture conditions for terrestrial ecotoxicity testing are reported.


2005 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Dana L. Morris

Forest fragmentation creates edge habitat that attracts nest predators that lower reproductive success and force birds to renest. To determine if predation-induced renesting causes a decline in condition of females and reduces productivity and offspring quality, I measured maternal condition and reproductive output of Indigo Buntings breeding in a fragmented and a contiguously forested landscape in Missouri. Renesting females had lower body condition than those that nested once successfully. As maternal condition declined with nesting attempt, stress hormone levels increased, suggesting poor-conditioned females lack the energetic reserves to meet increased demands. Additionally, females in poor condition produced small clutches and poor-conditioned nestlings. A higher proportion of nests containing all-female offspring indicates a bias in production of the smaller, less profitable sex in the fragmented landscape. These results suggest that increased reproductive effort associated with renesting imposes costs to breeding females and decreases their ability to invest in high quality offspring.


2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tai-Hsiung Hung ◽  
Pei-An Liao ◽  
Hung-Hao Chang ◽  
Jiun-Hao Wang ◽  
Min-Chen Wu

Background. Cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death worldwide. Meanwhile, obesity has been recognized as a global epidemic. This study aims to examine the extent to which cardiorespiratory fitness is associated with body mass among adult males and females in Taiwan.Materials and Methods. A nationally representative dataset consisting of 68,175 adults aged 18–60, including 31,743 males and 36,432 females, was used. Several multivariate regression models were used to investigate the relationship between cardiorespiratory fitness and body weight status, after controlling for adults’ sociodemographic status.Results. A one-unit increase in the BMI lowered the cardiorespiratory fitness score by 0.316 and 0.368 points for adult males and females, respectively. Among adult males, compared to those of normal weight, adult males who were underweight, overweight, or obese had a lower cardiorespiratory fitness score by 1.287, 0.845, and 3.353 points, respectively. Similar results could be found in female samples.Conclusion. The overweight and obese adults had much lower levels of cardiorespiratory fitness as compared to their normal weight counterparts. Given the upward trend in the prevalence of overweight and obesity, it is important to help overweight and obese people to become more fit and reach their healthy weight.


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