Timing of maternal exposure to toxic cyanobacteria and offspring fitness in Daphnia magna: Implications for the evolution of anticipatory maternal effects.

ABSTRACT: Organisms that regularly encounter stressful environments are expected to use cues to develop an appropriate phenotype. Water fleas (Daphnia spp.) are exposed to toxic cyanobacteria during seasonal algal blooms, which reduce growth and reproductive investment. Because generation time is typically shorter than the exposure to cyanobacteria, maternal effects provide information about the local conditions subsequent generations will experience. Here, we evaluate if maternal effects in response to microcystin, a toxin produced by cyanobacteria, represent an inheritance system evolved to transmit information in Daphnia magna. We exposed mothers as juveniles and/or as adults, and tested the offspring's fitness in toxic and non-toxic environments. Maternal exposure until reproductio

SUBMITTER: Radersma R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6309005 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature