EVOLUTION OF INTRINSIC GROWTH AND ENERGY ACQUISITION RATES. I. TRADE-OFFS WITH SWIMMING PERFORMANCE IN MENIDIA MENIDIA

Local specialization can be advantageous for individuals and may increase the resilience of the species to environmental change. However, there may be trade-offs between morphological responses and physiological performance and behaviour. Our aim was to test whether habitat-specific morphology of stickleback ( Gasterosteus aculeatus ) interacts with physiological performance and behaviour at different salinities. We rejected the hypothesis that deeper body shape of fish from habitats with high predation pressure led to decreases in locomotor performance. However, there was a trade-off between deeper body shape and muscle quality. Muscle of deeper-bodied fish produced less force than that of shallow-bodied saltmarsh fish. Nonetheless, saltmarsh fish had lower swimming performance, presumably because of lower muscle mass overall coupled with smaller caudal peduncles and larger heads. Saltmarsh fish performed better in saline water (20 ppt) relative to freshwater and relative to fish from freshwater habitats. However, exposure to salinity affected shoaling behaviour of fish from all habitats and shoals moved faster and closer together compared with freshwater. We show that habitat modification can alter phenotypes of native species, but local morphological specialization is associated with trade-offs that may reduce its benefits.

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Divergence and constraint in the thermal sensitivity of aquatic insect swimming performance

Current Zoology ◽

10.1093/cz/zoaa040 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 66 (5) ◽

pp. 555-564 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Alisha A Shah ◽

Eva M S Bacmeister ◽

Juan G Rubalcaba ◽

Cameron K Ghalambor

Keyword(s):

Aquatic Insects ◽

Environmental Temperature ◽

Swimming Performance ◽

Thermal Sensitivity ◽

Aquatic Insect ◽

Tropical Species ◽

Swimming Velocity ◽

Evolutionary Divergence ◽

Trade Offs ◽

Performance Curves

Abstract Environmental temperature variation may play a significant role in the adaptive evolutionary divergence of ectotherm thermal performance curves (TPCs). However, divergence in TPCs may also be constrained due to various causes. Here, we measured TPCs for swimming velocity of temperate and tropical mayflies (Family: Baetidae) and their stonefly predators (Family: Perlidae) from different elevations. We predicted that differences in seasonal climatic regimes would drive divergence in TPCs between temperate and tropical species. Stable tropical temperatures should favor the evolution of “specialists” that perform well across a narrow range of temperatures. Seasonally, variable temperatures in temperate zones, however, should favor “generalists” that perform well across a broad range of temperatures. In phylogenetically paired comparisons of mayflies and stoneflies, swimming speed was generally unaffected by experimental temperature and did not differ among populations between latitudes, suggesting a maintenance of performance breadth across elevation and latitude. An exception was found between temperate and tropical mayflies at low elevation where climatic differences between latitudes are large. In addition, TPCs did not differ between mayflies and their stonefly predators, except at tropical low elevation. Our results indicate that divergence in TPCs may be constrained in aquatic insects except under the most different thermal regimes, perhaps because of trade-offs that reduce thermal sensitivity and increase performance breadth.

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Aggression-induced fin damage modulates trade-offs in burst and endurance swimming performance of mosquitofish

Journal of Zoology ◽

10.1111/j.1469-7998.2010.00776.x ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 283 (4) ◽

pp. 243-248 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

E. L. E. Sinclair ◽

A. J. W. Ward ◽

F. Seebacher

Keyword(s):

Swimming Performance ◽

Trade Offs

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Plasticity of Performance Curves in Ectotherms: Individual Variation Modulates Population Responses to Environmental Change

Frontiers in Physiology ◽

10.3389/fphys.2021.733305 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

Author(s):

Frank Seebacher ◽

Alexander G. Little

Keyword(s):

Temperature Change ◽

Developmental Plasticity ◽

Swimming Performance ◽

Random Order ◽

Population Variation ◽

Published Data ◽

Population Responses ◽

Trade Offs ◽

Temperature Regimes ◽

Performance Curves

Many ectothermic animals can respond to changes in their environment by altering the sensitivities of physiological rates, given sufficient time to do so. In other words, thermal acclimation and developmental plasticity can shift thermal performance curves so that performance may be completely or partially buffered against the effects of environmental temperature changes. Plastic responses can thereby increase the resilience to temperature change. However, there may be pronounced differences between individuals in their capacity for plasticity, and these differences are not necessarily reflected in population means. In a bet-hedging strategy, only a subsection of the population may persist under environmental conditions that favour either plasticity or fixed phenotypes. Thus, experimental approaches that measure means across individuals can not necessarily predict population responses to temperature change. Here, we collated published data of 608 mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki) each acclimated twice, to a cool and a warm temperature in random order, to model how diversity in individual capacity for plasticity can affect populations under different temperature regimes. The persistence of both plastic and fixed phenotypes indicates that on average, neither phenotype is selectively more advantageous. Fish with low acclimation capacity had greater maximal swimming performance in warm conditions, but their performance decreased to a greater extent with decreasing temperature in variable environments. In contrast, the performance of fish with high acclimation capacity decreased to a lesser extent with a decrease in temperature. Hence, even though fish with low acclimation capacity had greater maximal performance, high acclimation capacity may be advantageous when ecologically relevant behaviour requires submaximal locomotor performance. Trade-offs, developmental effects and the advantages of plastic phenotypes together are likely to explain the observed population variation.

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Trade-offs between speed and endurance in the frogXenopus laevis

Journal of Experimental Biology ◽

10.1242/jeb.205.8.1145 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 205 (8) ◽

pp. 1145-1152 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Robbie S. Wilson ◽

Rob S. James ◽

Raoul Van Damme

Keyword(s):

Fatigue Resistance ◽

Power Output ◽

Swimming Performance ◽

Power Production ◽

Maximum Power ◽

Endurance Capacity ◽

Animal Performance ◽

Trade Offs ◽

Burst Swimming ◽

Whole Muscle

SUMMARYOne of the most interesting trade-offs within the vertebrate locomotor system is that between speed and endurance capacity. However, few studies have demonstrated a conflict between whole-animal speed and endurance within a vertebrate species. We investigated the existence of trade-offs between speed and endurance capacity at both the whole-muscle and whole-animal levels in post-metamorphs of the frog Xenopus laevis. The burst-swimming performance of 55 frogs was assessed using a high-speed digital camera, and their endurance capacity was measured in a constant-velocity swimming flume.The work-loop technique was used to assess maximum power production of whole peroneus muscles at a cycle frequency of 6 Hz, while fatigue-resistance was determined by recording the decrease in force and net power production during a set of continuous cycles at 2 Hz. We found no significant correlations between measures of burst swimming performance and endurance capacity, suggesting that there is no trade-off between these two measures of whole-animal performance. In contrast, there was a significant negative correlation between peak instantaneous power output of the muscles at 6 Hz and the fatigue-resistance of force production at 2 Hz (other correlations between power and fatigue were negative but non-significant). Thus, our data support the suggestion that a physiological conflict between maximum power output and fatigue resistance exists at the level of vertebrate muscles. The apparent incongruence between whole-muscle and whole-animal performance warrants further detailed investigation and may be related to factors influencing both whole-muscle and whole-animal performance measures.

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