Life-history plasticity in hosts (Lymnaea elodes) exposed to differing resources and parasitism

2004 ◽  
Vol 82 (10) ◽  
pp. 1672-1677 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory J Sandland ◽  
Dennis J Minchella
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
Life History Traits ◽  
Interactive Effect ◽  
Phenotypic Expression ◽  
Low Protein ◽  
Evolution Of Life ◽  
Host Growth ◽  
Lymnaea Elodes ◽  
Multifactorial Approach

Assessing phenotypic expression across environments is essential for understanding the evolution of life histories, yet relatively few studies have empirically determined the role that multiple environmental factors play in altering animal phenotypes. We used a multifactorial approach to investigate the effects of both infection of Echinostoma revolutum (Frölich, 1802) and nutrient availability on phenotypic expressions in lines of the snail Lymnaea elodes (Say, 1821). Lines were initially established via selfing events followed by breeding (within lines) over the next four generations. Juveniles from each line were then size-matched and randomly exposed to parasite (exposed / sham-exposed) and diet (high protein / low protein) treatments, generating a 2 (line) × 2 (diet) × 2 (exposure) factorial design. Snail growth, reproduction, and survival were monitored over 5 weeks. Analyses revealed an interactive effect of host line and infection status on host growth. Main effects of both snail line and diet also significantly influenced host growth. Reproductive patterns differed between lines, with snails from one line producing egg masses and eggs in all treatments, and snails from the second line producing minimal eggs in only a single treatment. Snail survival remained similar between snail lines. Results from this study suggest that snail life-history traits can vary dramatically as a result of host genetics, the environment, and the interaction between these factors. Reasons for the occurrence and maintenance of this variability in life-history traits are discussed.

A Primer of Life Histories

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey A. Hutchings
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
Life History Theory ◽  
Life History Traits ◽  
Reproductive Effort ◽  
Effective Means ◽  
Academic Experience ◽  
Sustainable Exploitation ◽  
Evolution Of Life ◽  
Opportune Time

Life histories describe how genotypes schedule their reproductive effort throughout life in response to factors that affect their survival and fecundity. Life histories are solutions that selection has produced to solve the problem of how to persist in a given environment. These solutions differ tremendously within and among species. Some organisms mature within months of attaining life, others within decades; some produce few, large offspring as opposed to numerous, small offspring; some reproduce many times throughout their lives while others die after reproducing just once. The exponential pace of life-history research provides an opportune time to engage and re-engage new generations of students and researchers on the fundamentals and applications of life-history theory. Chapters 1 through 4 describe the fundamentals of life-history theory. Chapters 5 through 8 focus on the evolution of life-history traits. Chapters 9 and 10 summarize how life-history theory and prediction has been applied within the contexts of conservation and sustainable exploitation. This primer offers an effective means of rendering the topic accessible to readers from a broad range of academic experience and research expertise.

scholarly journals The Phylogenetic Approach to Avian Life Histories: An Important Complement to Within-Population Studies

The Condor ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 102 (1) ◽  
pp. 52-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
David W. Winkler
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
Life History Traits ◽  
Statistical Convergence ◽  
Phylogenetic Analyses ◽  
Life History Evolution ◽  
Life History Variation ◽  
Evolution Of Life ◽  
Character Variation

Abstract In recent years, two approaches have emerged for the analysis of character evolution: the largely statistical “convergence” approach and the mainly cladistic “homology” approach. I discuss the strengths and weaknesses of these approaches as they apply to phylogenetic analyses of life-history variation in birds. Using examples from analyses of character variation in swallows, I suggest that the phylogenetic approach yields distinctive insights into the selective role of the environment and other characters of the organism on the evolution of life-history traits. This view thus has the potential of bringing together micro- and macro-evolutionary views of life-history evolution.

scholarly journals Repeated evolution of viviparity in phrynosomatid lizards constrained interspecific diversification in some life-history traits

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 20160653 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Jaime Zúñiga-Vega ◽  
Jesualdo A. Fuentes-G. ◽  
Alison G. Ossip-Drahos ◽  
Emília P. Martins
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
Life History Traits ◽  
Evolutionary Rates ◽  
Phylogenetic Comparative Methods ◽  
American Family ◽  
The North ◽  
Evolution Of Life ◽  
Speciation Rates ◽  
Repeated Evolution

In vertebrates, viviparity has evolved independently multiple times, apparently increasing morphological diversification and speciation rates as a consequence. We tested whether the evolution of viviparity has also increased diversification of life-history traits by estimating evolutionary rates of lizards from the North American family Phrynosomatidae. Using modern phylogenetic comparative methods, we compared these rates between oviparous and viviparous species, and found no support for this hypothesis. Instead, we found higher evolutionary rates for oviparous species in some life-history traits. Our results suggest that the evolution of viviparity may have constrained rather than facilitated evolution of life histories.

Hormones and Behavior

2019 ◽  
pp. 11-26
Author(s):  
Maren N. Vitousek ◽  
Laura A. Schoenle
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
Life History Traits ◽  
Developmental Plasticity ◽  
Endocrine System ◽  
Phenotypic Traits ◽  
Social Environments ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
And Behavior

Hormones mediate the expression of life history traits—phenotypic traits that contribute to lifetime fitness (i.e., reproductive timing, growth rate, number and size of offspring). The endocrine system shapes phenotype by organizing tissues during developmental periods and by activating changes in behavior, physiology, and morphology in response to varying physical and social environments. Because hormones can simultaneously regulate many traits (hormonal pleiotropy), they are important mediators of life history trade-offs among growth, reproduction, and survival. This chapter reviews the role of hormones in shaping life histories with an emphasis on developmental plasticity and reversible flexibility in endocrine and life history traits. It also discusses the advantages of studying hormone–behavior interactions from an evolutionary perspective. Recent research in evolutionary endocrinology has provided insight into the heritability of endocrine traits, how selection on hormone systems may influence the evolution of life histories, and the role of hormonal pleiotropy in driving or constraining evolution.

scholarly journals Density Dependence, Evolutionary Optimization, and the Diversification of Avian Life Histories

The Condor ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 102 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert E. Ricklefs
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Life Table ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
Life History Traits ◽  
Evolutionary Ecology ◽  
Reproductive Rate ◽  
Empirical Modeling ◽  
Adult Survival ◽  
Life History Variation ◽  
Evolutionary Response

Abstract Although we have learned much about avian life histories during the 50 years since the seminal publications of David Lack, Alexander Skutch, and Reginald Moreau, we still do not have adequate explanations for some of the basic patterns of variation in life-history traits among birds. In part, this reflects two consequences of the predominance of evolutionary ecology thinking during the past three decades. First, by blurring the distinction between life-history traits and life-table variables, we have tended to divorce life histories from their environmental context, which forms the link between the life history and the life table. Second, by emphasizing constrained evolutionary responses to selective factors, we have set aside alternative explanations for observed correlations among life-history traits and life-table variables. Density-dependent feedback and independent evolutionary response to correlated aspects of the environment also may link traits through different mechanisms. Additionally, in some cases we have failed to evaluate quantitatively ideas that are compelling qualitatively, ignored or explained away relevant empirical data, and neglected logical implications of certain compelling ideas. Comparative analysis of avian life histories shows that species are distributed along a dominant slow-fast axis. Furthermore, among birds, annual reproductive rate and adult mortality are directly proportional to each other, requiring that pre-reproductive survival is approximately constant. This further implies that age at maturity increases dramatically with increasing adult survival rate. The significance of these correlations is obscure, particularly because survival and reproductive rates at each age include the effects of many life-history traits. For example, reproductive rate is determined by clutch size, nesting success, season length, and nest-cycle length, each of which represents the outcome of many different interactions of an individual's life-history traits with its environment. Resolution of the most basic issues raised by patterns of life histories clearly will require innovative empirical, modeling, and experimental approaches. However, the most fundamental change required at this time is a broadening of the evolutionary ecology paradigm to include a variety of alternative mechanisms for generating patterns of life-history variation.

scholarly journals High-lipid prey reduce juvenile survivorship and delay egg laying in a small linyphiid spider Hylyphantes graminicola

2020 ◽  
Vol 223 (23) ◽  
pp. jeb237255
Author(s):  
Lelei Wen ◽  
Xiaoguo Jiao ◽  
Fengxiang Liu ◽  
Shichang Zhang ◽  
Daiqin Li
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Life History Traits ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
High Protein ◽  
Nutritional Requirement ◽  
Predator Species ◽  
Low Protein ◽  
Lipid Ratio ◽  
High Lipid ◽  
Prey Protein

ABSTRACTPrey proteins and lipids greatly impact predator life-history traits. However, life-history plasticity offers predators the opportunity to tune the life-history traits in response to the limited macronutrients to allocate among traits. A fast-growing predator species with a strict maturation time may be more likely to consume nutritionally imbalanced prey. Here, we tested this hypothesis by examining the effect of the protein-to-lipid ratio in prey on a small sheet web-building spider, Hylyphantes graminicola, with a short life span, using adult Drosophila melanogaster as the prey. By manipulating the macronutrient content of the prey to generate three prey types with different protein-to-lipid ratios (i.e. high, intermediate and low), we demonstrated that the majority of the spiders that consumed only these flies could reach full maturity. However, juvenile spiders that consumed high-lipid (low protein-to-lipid ratio) flies had a higher rate of mortality than those consuming medium-protein and high-protein flies. The prey protein-to-lipid ratio had no significant effects on the developmental duration and size at maturity. Although the prey protein-to-lipid ratio had no significant influence on mating behaviour and female fecundity, females reared on high-lipid flies exhibited a significant delay in oviposition compared with those reared on high-protein flies. We conclude that high-lipid prey has negative effects on the survival and reproductive function of H. graminicola. Our study thus provides clear evidence that low plasticity with fast development to a certain size means a high nutritional requirement for protein at a cost of lower survival and prolonged time to egg laying when prey have low protein-to-lipid content in H. graminicola.

scholarly journals Bacteriophage lambda overcomes a perturbation in its host–viral genetic network through mutualism and evolution of life history traits*

Evolution ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 74 (4) ◽  
pp. 764-774 ◽  
Author(s):  
Animesh Gupta ◽  
Anechelle N. Soto ◽  
Sarah J. Medina ◽  
Katherine L. Petrie ◽  
Justin R. Meyer
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Life History Traits ◽  
Bacteriophage Lambda ◽  
Genetic Network ◽  
Evolution Of Life
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