Rapid shift in thermal resistance between generations through maternal heat exposure

Abstract

Given the current rapid climate change, understanding the mechanisms underlying heat tolerance and its plasticity is an important goal of global change biology. Soil fauna communities are especially vulnerable because of their limited dispersal ability. It is generally recognized that transgenerational effects can contribute to the expression of phenotypic plasticity. Nevertheless, transgenerational plasticity in belowground organisms has received relatively little attention in the context of climate change, despite their major role in soil functioning. Here we test for transgenerational effects of heat shock exposure in the soil arthropod Orchesella cincta, a springtail species that regularly experiences heat stress conditions in its natural environment. We exposed females to heat stress, and subsequently investigated the effects of the same stress on the survival of their offspring. Thermal resistance of the progeny from treated and untreated mothers was compared at three life stages: egg, juvenile and adult. We provide evidence that exposure to heat shock induces a life stage‐dependent increase in thermal resistance in the subsequent generation. The induced adaptive maternal effect persisted into the adult stage of the progeny. However, there is also a tradeoff resulting in reduced clutch size of treated females. These results are of broad significance to understanding the potential of organisms to cope with a changing climate.

Can acclimation of thermal tolerance, in adults and across generations, act as a buffer against climate change in tropical marine ectotherms?

“…Without being able to follow single parent crosses it is not possible to assess the heritability of thermal acclimation from the current study. Transgenerational plasticity is, however, increasingly being recognized as a mechanism providing mitigation for some of the negative impacts of climate change (Donelson and Munday, 2015;Zizzari and Ellers, 2014) including increasing CT max across generations (Ho and Burggren, 2012). Highlights  Adult acclimation of CT max was low; 0 to 0.06°C per 1°C increase in temperature  Transgenerational acclimation was up to 5 times greater than adult acclimation  Transgenerational acclimation may buffer climate change in tropical ectotherms…”

Transgenerational effects of nutrition are different for sons and daughters

“…Moreover, parental effects may vary across life‐history stages due to trade‐offs. An earlier study on transgenerational effects found that the effects of the parents were strongest in the adult life stage of the offspring (Zizzari & Ellers, ).…”

Extending the integrated phenotype: covariance and correlation in plasticity of behavioural traits

“…It is now generally accepted that plastic responses to environmental conditions during development or adult life can have important fitness consequences. Moreover, it has become apparent that the effect of exposure to biotic or abiotic conditions can be pervasive; as it can last for several generations, or give rise to transgenerational plasticity where parental environment induces phenotypic changes in the offspring or grand-offspring, see, for example [7]. Our understanding of adaptive processes has increased greatly since plasticity is fully recognized as an important parameter in evolutionary biology [8].…”