Effect of growth compensation on subsequent physical fitness in green swordtailsXiphophorus helleri

Abstract

Early environmental conditions have been suggested to influence subsequent locomotor performance in a range of species, but most measurements have been of initial (baseline) performance. By manipulating early growth trajectories in green swordtail fish, we show that males that underwent compensatory growth as juveniles had a similar baseline swimming endurance when mature adults to ad libitum fed controls. However, they had a reduced capacity to increase endurance with training, which is more likely to relate to Darwinian fitness. Compensatory growth may thus result in important locomotor costs later in life.

Fast growers sprint slower: effects of food deprivation and re-feeding on sprint swimming performance in individual juvenile European sea bass

“…Fish that showed the greatest compensatory growth had the slowest sprint speeds by the end of the growth phase. In agreement with previous studies, this suggests that compensatory growth causes a reduction in swimming performance (Álvarez and Metcalfe, 2005; Álvarez and Metcalfe, 2007;Royle et al, 2006;Sogard and Olla, 2002). Handelsman et al (Handelsman et al, 2010) noted an apparent trade-off between routine growth and sprint speed in regularly feeding sea bass held in outdoor mesocosms with high access to food and low conspecific density.…”

“…Considering the potential benefits of large body size within a cohort, for competitive ability and reproductive success, this presumably indicates that extremely rapid growth carries some physiological costs. Indeed, rapid growth can have a negative effect on locomotory ability (Álvarez and Metcalfe, 2007; Arendt, 2003;Klukowski et al, 1998;Royle et al, 2006). However, changes in the performance of individual animals in relation to the amount of compensatory growth experienced after a period of food deprivation have not been investigated.…”

Do females preferentially associate with males given a better start in life?

“…Another possibility is that females were able to detect subtle differences in locomotor performance between control and treatment males. Locomotion is affected by developmental history in some poeciliids [16]. Whatever the cue, this study is one of the first to demonstrate that a male's attractiveness can be influenced by his developmental history.…”

“…Statistically controlling for this body size effect, however, we found that females also preferred to associate with males that underwent normal, continuous growth over males that suffered a period of poor early growth and subsequent compensatory development (accelerated growth and delayed maturation). There was no detectable negative effect of an early period of low food followed by compensatory growth on male attractiveness in another poecilid fish X. helleri [11], although it did reduce male social dominance, which should also lower male mating success [16].…”

A performance-based cost to honest signalling in male green anole lizards (Anolis carolinensis)

“…the ability to resist being pulled out of tunnels, an important determinant of fighting ability in some dung beetles), which is linked to horn size independent of body size in the beetle Euoniticellus intermedius [56], is strongly affected by resource availability in fighting male Onthophagus taurus beetles [58]. Similarly, Xiphophorus helleri fish that are subject to juvenile dietary restriction show a reduced capacity to increase swimming endurance through training later in life when compared with fish on ad libitum diets ( [59], but see [60] who showed that fast-start swimming performance is unaffected by diet treatment in this species). Thus, performance traits appear to be generally costly, such that investment in performance cannot be maintained under low-resource conditions.…”