Early Life History and Recruitment

The role of progeny quality and male size in the nesting success of smallmouth bass: integrating field and laboratory studies

“…Nesting success occurs in roughly 50% of the males who guard nests each year; however, annual variation can be dramatic ranging from 10 to 90% nesting success (Suski and Ridgway 2007). Offspring from early spawning pairs in a population, (typically the largest parents), are believed to receive an advantage relative to later-spawned (smaller) individuals via an advanced transition to consuming nutrient-rich piscine prey, which offers accelerated growth and nutrient accumulation (Neves 1975;Suski and Ridgway 2007;DeVries et al 2009). However, work using molecular techniques to identify the genetic origin of fall youngof-the-year smallmouth bass showed that recruitment was driven by a disproportionate contribution of offspring from a small number of spawning pairs within the population, and neither paternal size nor timing of spawning could explain differences in reproductive output within the population (e.g., Gross and Kapuscinski 1997).…”

“…In some species, egg characteristics such as lipid concentration, quantity of stress hormones (e.g., cortisol), size, morphology, hatching success, and survivability can impact offspring survival and performance, with many of these characteristics arising from maternal contributions (Sampath-Kumar et al 1993;Lam 1994;Contreras-Sanchez et al 1998). Nongenetic (maternal) inheritance through differential allocation to offspring (Sheldon 2000) combined with variation in offspring quality may therefore play a role in observed size-specific differences in larval survival for large male smallmouth bass relative to smaller individuals and may also be a factor driving the disproportionate contribution of offspring to a year class from few individuals within a population (Gross and Kapuscinski 1997;Suski and Ridgway 2007;DeVries et al 2009). …”

“…Premature abandonment (and thus reproductive failure) by a male prior to brood independence can occur following a number of biotic and abiotic challenges that include storm events, temperature fluctuations, and predation (DeVries et al 2009). Nesting success occurs in roughly 50% of the males who guard nests each year; however, annual variation can be dramatic ranging from 10 to 90% nesting success (Suski and Ridgway 2007).…”

“…Mortality events during egg and embryo stages can result from a variety of density-dependent and densityindependent factors that include temperature change, predation, and timing of reproduction (Cushing 1974;Rice et al 1993;Cushing and Horwood 1994). For smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu), mortality during the larval period has been defined as a bottleneck that can partially influence year class formation (DeVries et al 2009). Further, year class strength in smallmouth bass is believed to be heavily influenced by the size structure of the adult population, with fitness advantages offered to larger individuals (Suski and Ridgway 2007;DeVries et al 2009).…”

“…For smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu), mortality during the larval period has been defined as a bottleneck that can partially influence year class formation (DeVries et al 2009). Further, year class strength in smallmouth bass is believed to be heavily influenced by the size structure of the adult population, with fitness advantages offered to larger individuals (Suski and Ridgway 2007;DeVries et al 2009). Smallmouth bass appear to mate selectively by size, with larger females preferring to mate with larger males.…”