Egg size and the adaptive capacity of early life history traits in Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha).

ABSTRACT: Offspring traits are greatly influenced by maternal effects, and these maternal effects may provide an important pathway through which populations can adapt to changing thermal environments. We investigated the effect of egg size on the among- and within-population variation in early life history traits among introduced Great Lakes Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) populations under varying thermal conditions. We reared Chinook salmon from three populations in a common-garden hatchery study at 6.5, 9.4, and 15.2°C and measured a variety of fitness-related traits during development. We found that most of the among-population variation in early life history traits was explained by egg size. However, the contribution of egg size to the among-population variation decreased with

SUBMITTER: Thorn MW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5775492 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature