Dataset Information

Egg size effects across multiple life-history stages in the marine annelid Hydroides diramphus.

ABSTRACT: The optimal balance of reproductive effort between offspring size and number depends on the fitness of offspring size in a particular environment. The variable environments offspring experience, both among and within life-history stages, are likely to alter the offspring size/fitness relationship and favor different offspring sizes. Hence, the many environments experienced throughout complex life-histories present mothers with a significant challenge to optimally allocate their reproductive effort. In a marine annelid, we tested the relationship between egg size and performance across multiple life-history stages, including: fertilization, larval development, and post-metamorphosis survival and size in the field. We found evidence of conflicting effects of egg size on performance: larger eggs had higher fertilization under sperm-limited conditions, were slightly faster to develop pre-feeding, and were larger post-metamorphosis; however, smaller eggs had higher fertilization when sperm was abundant, and faster planktonic development; and egg size did not affect post-metamorphic survival. The results indicate that egg size effects are conflicting in H. diramphus depending on the environments within and among life-history stages. We suggest that offspring size in this species may be a compromise between the overall costs and benefits of egg sizes in each stage and that performance in any one stage is not maximized.

SUBMITTER: Allen RM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4103814 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Egg size effects across multiple life-history stages in the marine annelid Hydroides diramphus.

Allen Richard M RM Marshall Dustin D

PloS one 20140718 7

The optimal balance of reproductive effort between offspring size and number depends on the fitness of offspring size in a particular environment. The variable environments offspring experience, both among and within life-history stages, are likely to alter the offspring size/fitness relationship and favor different offspring sizes. Hence, the many environments experienced throughout complex life-histories present mothers with a significant challenge to optimally allocate their reproductive effo ...[more]

PMID: 25036850

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Dataset Information

Egg size effects across multiple life-history stages in the marine annelid Hydroides diramphus.

Publications

Egg size effects across multiple life-history stages in the marine annelid Hydroides diramphus.

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