Evolutionary trade-offs between intergenerational and transgenerational fitness effects.

ABSTRACT: Intergenerational and transgenerational fitness effects can shape evolutionary processes. Theoretically, however, intergenerational and transgenerational effects can trade-off with each other with profound consequences for evolutionary processes. Here we show that beneficial intergenerational effects that increase offspring fitness can result in detrimental transgenerational effects that decrease great-grand offspring fitness. We combined theoretical modelling and experimental approaches to investigate multigenerational fitness trade-offs induced by larval starvation in Caenorhabditis elegans. We demonstrate that larval starvation triggers a cascading effect: starved individuals suffered marked fitness losses, their direct offspring enjoyed fitness gains in both starvation and ad li

SUBMITTER: Harris I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12637518 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature