Maternal Investment Influences Expression of Resource Polymorphism in Amphibians: Implications for the Evolution of Novel Resource-Use Phenotypes

Martin, Ryan A.; Pfennig, David W.

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0009117

Cited by 45 publications

(61 citation statements)

References 74 publications

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“…Offspring from larger cockroach, echinoid, salamander and frog eggs have higher phenotypic plasticity (Doughty 2002, Holbrook andSchal 2004;McAlister 2007;Michimae et al, 2009;Martin and Pfennig, 2010). This study suggests that with evolutionary egg size increases, more traits are added to the suite of traits responding to egg size variation and the response of each trait to yolk quantity variation increases.…”

Section: Trait Integration Evolution Of Plasticity and The Value Ofmentioning

confidence: 74%

Evolution of maternal egg size effects in sister salamander species

Landberg

2014

Int. J. Dev. Biol.

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Egg size varies genetically and with the maternal environment. It is correlated with and can act as a resource fueling variation in many other key life history traits. This study examined hypotheses about how plastic responses of offspring to yolk variation evolve (and contribute to phenotypic evolution) when maternal investment in egg size evolves. I used a split-clutch, controlled, surgical experiment with a longitudinal (repeated-measures) design to examine the effects of yolk removal on sister salamander species with distinct egg and larval phenotypes. Yolk removal had large effects in the derived larger-egged species, A. barbouri, and greatly reduced effects in A. texanum. Early hatching and smaller larval body size was only found in A. barbouri and survival rates decreased more in A. barbouri. These results provide strong experimental evidence that as female salamanders evolve greater yolk investment in each egg, offspring coevolve an increased magnitude of phenotypic plasticity in response to yolk variation across a suite of life history traits. Yolk therefore acts as an integrator of phenotypes that allows females to modify modules of life history traits together (facilitating adaptation). When organisms invade new environments, complex integrated phenotypes may evolve via correlated responses to increased maternal investment, yet individual traits can be coupled or decoupled to yolk quantity variation in different species.

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Section: Trait Integration Evolution Of Plasticity and The Value Ofmentioning

confidence: 74%

Evolution of maternal egg size effects in sister salamander species

Landberg

2014

Int. J. Dev. Biol.

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“…Different phenotypes may arise from different egg size as seen in spadefoot tadpoles Spea multiplicata . Martin & Pfennig (2010) showed that larger females invested in larger eggs, which in turn produce larger tadpoles better able to capture shrimp that induce carnivore morphology. Egg size may indeed be a source of novel resource use phenotype.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Importance of Egg Size and Social Effects for Behaviour of Arctic Charr Juveniles

et al. 2011

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Early behaviour can determine food intake and growth rate with important consequences for life history and survival in fishes. Egg size is known to affect growth rate of young Arctic charr but its influence on the development of behaviour is poorly documented. It is believed that egg size influence on growth and potentially on the behaviour of young fish decreases over time, minimized by the effects of social factors. Shortly after first feeding, we examined differences in mobility and foraging of Arctic charr in relation to egg size and social environment. The behaviour of juveniles from small and large eggs was compared five times over the course of development and in three different experimental settings: long‐term isolation (isolation before hatching), short‐term isolation vs. group rearing and mixed size group vs. homogeneous size groups. Egg size affected foraging behaviour and mobility of fish: fish coming from large eggs were more mobile and foraged more than fish coming from small eggs. Social environment affected foraging behaviour, mobility and space use: fish in a group were more mobile, foraged more and responded faster to food delivery than isolated fish. The interaction of egg size and social effects was seen primarily in foraging activities but did not affect mobility or space use. Large fish in groups foraged more than the three other groups: large fish in isolation, small fish in groups and small fish in isolation. Agonistic behaviour was rarely observed and there was no significant effect of group composition on agonistic behaviour. We discuss the importance of egg size and social effects at early stages of development with a focus on the evolutionary ecology of Arctic charr.

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“…To assess the effect size of each random effect, we expressed the variance for each random effect as a percentage of the remaining variance that was not explained by fixed effects: (random effect variance/[sum of all random effect variances þ residual variance]) Â 100 [56] (see electronic supplementary material Appendix S1 for the rationale for forgoing significance testing of random effects in complex linear mixed-effects models). If the three-way interaction of genetic line Â parental environment Â germination treatment explained a substantial percentage of remaining variance that would indicate that the effect of demethylation on the expression of transgenerational plasticity varied among genetic lines.…”

Section: (D) Data Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

DNA methylation mediates genetic variation for adaptive transgenerational plasticity

2016

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Environmental stresses experienced by individual parents can influence offspring phenotypes in ways that enhance survival under similar conditions. Although such adaptive transgenerational plasticity is well documented, its transmission mechanisms are generally unknown. One possible mechanism is environmentally induced DNA methylation changes. We tested this hypothesis in the annual plant Polygonum persicaria, a species known to express adaptive transgenerational plasticity in response to parental drought stress. Replicate plants of 12 genetic lines (sampled from natural populations) were grown in dry versus moist soil. Their offspring were exposed to the demethylating agent zebularine or to control conditions during germination and then grown in dry soil. Under control germination conditions, the offspring of drought-stressed parents grew longer root systems and attained greater biomass compared with offspring of well-watered parents of the same genetic lines. Demethylation removed these adaptive developmental effects of parental drought, but did not significantly alter phenotypic expression in offspring of well-watered parents. The effect of demethylation on the expression of the parental drought effect varied among genetic lines. Differential seed provisioning did not contribute to the effect of parental drought on offspring phenotypes. These results demonstrate that DNA methylation can mediate adaptive, genotype-specific effects of parental stress on offspring phenotypes.

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Maternal Investment Influences Expression of Resource Polymorphism in Amphibians: Implications for the Evolution of Novel Resource-Use Phenotypes

Cited by 45 publications

References 74 publications

Evolution of maternal egg size effects in sister salamander species

Evolution of maternal egg size effects in sister salamander species

The Importance of Egg Size and Social Effects for Behaviour of Arctic Charr Juveniles

DNA methylation mediates genetic variation for adaptive transgenerational plasticity

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