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23 results for “Early life traits”
Data from: Trait-dependent associations between early- and late-life reproduction in a wild mammal
<p>Early- versus late-life trade-offs are a central prediction of life-history theory that are expected to shape the evolution of ageing. While ageing is widely observed in wild vertebrates, evidence that early–late trade-offs influence ageing rates remains limited. Vertebrate reproduction is a complex, multi-stage process, yet few studies have examined how different aspects of early-life reproductive allocation shape late-life performance and ageing. Here, we use longitudinal data from a 36-year study of wild Soay sheep to show that early-life reproduction predicts late-life reproductive performance in a trait-dependent manner. Females that started breeding earlier showed more rapid declines in annual fecundity with age, consistent with a trade-off. However, age-related declines in offspring first-year survival and birth weight were not associated with early-life reproduction. Selective disappearance was evident in all three late-life reproductive measures, with longer-lived females having higher average performance. Our results provide mixed support for early–late reproductive trade-offs and show that the way early-life reproduction shapes late-life performance and ageing can differ among reproductive traits.</p>
Data from: Trait-dependent associations between early- and late-life reproduction in a wild mammal
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Data from: Egg size and the adaptive capacity of early life history traits in Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha)
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°C, 9.4°C, 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 an increase in temperature suggesting that other effects, such as genetic, contribute at high temperature. Within populations, egg size explained much of the dam variance and maternal effect for traits in every temperature, whereas egg size generally had little to no influence on the sire variance and heritability. Overall, our results demonstrate the significant contribution egg size makes to shaping early life history phenotypes among and within populations, and suggests that egg size is an important pathway through which offspring phenotypes can evolve on contemporary timescales.
Data from: Are sexually selected traits affected by a poor environment early in life?
Background: Challenging conditions experienced early in life, such as a restricted diet, can detrimentally affect key life-history traits. Individuals can reduce these costs by delaying their sexual maturation, albeit at the price of the later onset of breeding, to eventually reach the same adult size as individuals that grow up in a benevolent environment. Delayed maturation can, however, still lead to other detrimental morphological and physiological changes that become apparent later in adulthood (e.g. shorter lifespan, faster senescence). In general, research focuses on the naturally selected costs of a poor early diet. In mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki), males with limited food intake early in life delay maturation to reach a similar adult body size to their well-fed counterparts ('catch-up growth'). Here we tested whether a poor early diet is costly due to the reduced expression of sexually selected male characters, namely genital size and ejaculate traits. Results: We found that a male's diet early in life significantly influenced his sperm reserves and sperm replenishment rate. Shortly after maturation males with a restricted early diet had significantly lower sperm reserves and slower replenishment rates than control diet males, but this dietary difference was no longer detectable in older males. Conclusions: Although delaying maturation to reach the same body size as well fed juveniles can ameliorate some costs of a poor start in life, our findings suggest that costs might still arise because of sexual selection against these males. It should be noted, however, that the observed effects are modest (Hedges' g = 0.20–0.36), and the assumption that lower sperm production translates into a decline in fitness under sperm competition remains unconfirmed.
Data from: Hybridization alters early life-history traits and increases plant colonization success in a novel region
Hybridization is hypothesized to promote invasiveness, but empirical tests comparing the performance of hybrid versus parental taxa in novel regions are lacking. We experimentally compared colonization ability of populations of wild radish (Raphanus raphanistrum) versus populations of advanced-generation hybrids between wild and cultivated radish (R. sativus) in a southeast Texas pasture, well beyond the known invasive range of hybrid radish. We also manipulated the strength of interspecific competition to better generalize across variable environments. In both competitive environments, hybrid populations produced at least three times more seeds than wild radish populations, a distinction that was driven by greater hybrid seedling emergence, earlier hybrid emergence and more hybrid seedlings surviving to flower, rather than by greater individual fecundity. Flowering duration in hybrids was less negatively affected by competition than it was in wild radishes, while early emergence was associated with subsequent high seed output in both biotypes. Our data show that hybridization can enhance colonization success in a novel region, and, by comparison with previous studies, that the life-history traits enhancing hybrid success can differ across regions, even for lineages originating from the same hybridization event. These results imply a much larger arena for hybrid success than previously appreciated.
Data from: Inbreeding and inbreeding depression of early life traits in a cooperative mammal
Mating between relatives often results in negative fitness consequences or inbreeding depression. However, the expression of inbreeding in populations of wild cooperative mammals and the effects of environmental, maternal and social factors on inbreeding depression in these systems are currently not well understood. This study uses pedigree-based inbreeding coefficients from a long-term study of meerkats (Suricata suricatta) in South Africa to reveal that 44% of the population have detectably non-zero (F>0) inbreeding coefficients. 15% of these inbred individuals were the result of moderate inbreeding (F≥0.125), although such inbreeding events almost solely occurred when mating individuals had no prior experience of each other. Inbreeding depression was evident for a range of traits: pup mass at emergence from the natal burrow, hind-foot length, growth until independence and juvenile survival. However, we found no evidence of significant inbreeding depression for skull and forearm length or for pup survival. This research provides a rare investigation into inbreeding in a cooperative mammal, revealing high levels of inbreeding, considerable negative consequences and complex interactions with the social environment.
Repeated elevational clines of early life-history traits and their proximate mechanisms in brown trout
<p><span>1. Climate warming imposes a severe threat to freshwater ecosystems, which are dominated by ectotherms such as fish and aquatic insects. To better predict the effects of climate warming on thermally sensitive ecosystems, information on how temperature affects individual traits </span><span>within populations</span><span> is fundamental.</span></p> <p><span>2. Patterns of intraspecific variation in thermal reaction norms along geographic thermal gradients provide valuable information. </span><span>Immediate</span><span> temperature effects on individual traits can be inferred from the shape of the thermal reaction norm. </span><span>The way that</span><span> temperature and associated environmental conditions </span><span>(</span><span>to which populations have been exposed over generations</span><span>)</span><span> affect individual traits through </span><span>transgenerational plasticity in</span><span>,</span><span> and/or </span><span>natural selection on</span><span>,</span><span> </span><span>these</span><span> traits can also be inferred from patterns of trait variation along </span><span>a</span><span> geographic thermal gradient. </span></p> <p><span>3. Many studies have documented patterns of intraspecific variation in thermal reaction norms along geographic thermal gradients. However, most previous studies cannot exclude the possibility that the observed geographic patterns are solely explained by random processes, such as isolation by distance, due to the lack of </span><span>replication of</span><span> geographic gradients. Here, we show consistent patterns in intraspecific trait variation along geographic thermal gradients using <em>Salmo</em> <em>trutta</em> </span><span>(</span><span>brown trout</span><span>)</span><span>, which is an ecologically and economically important fish in alpine streams. </span></p> <p><span>4. We kept trout embryos collected from 52 families from 14 populations along wide and replicated elevational gradients from three Alpine drainages (Danube, Po, and Rhine) in two temperature treatments (3.2 and 6.2 °C). Timing and body size at emergence from the nest, which are key early life-history traits of trout affecting their early growth and survival, were measured. </span></p> <p><span>5. </span><span>Besides faster embryonic development at warmer temperatures, we found that offspring from low-elevation parents took</span><span> very</span><span> slightly more days to </span><span>reach</span><span> emergence </span><span>from fertilisation</span><span> and were larger than offspring from high-elevation parents. Importantly, this was evident for all three drainages. Further analyses found that the higher number of days until- and larger body length at- emergence of low-elevation trout were mainly due to the larger eggs laid by low-elevation females, which </span><span>had</span><span> larger body size than high-elevation females. </span></p> <p><span>6.</span><span> Trout female body size, which is positively correlated with egg size, is susceptible to temperatures and associated environmental conditions. </span><span>Consequently</span><span>, climate warming </span><span>may</span><span> not only </span><span>immediately</span><span> accelerate development rate but also shift timing and size at emergence through egg-size-mediated maternal effects within a relatively short time scale.</span></p>
Data from: Geographic variation in thermal sensitivity of early life traits in a widespread reptile
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Repeated elevational clines of early life-history traits and their proximate mechanisms in brown trout
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Data from: Hybridization alters early life-history traits and increases plant colonization success in a novel region
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Data from: Inbreeding and inbreeding depression of early life traits in a cooperative mammal
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Data from: Are sexually selected traits affected by a poor environment early in life?
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Data from: Egg size and the adaptive capacity of early life history traits in Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha)
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Data from: Early life and transgenerational stressors impact secondary sexual traits and fitness
Developmental stress from early life challenges impacts adult phenotype across a range of species. However, the potential transgenerational consequences for adult phenotype are largely unknown. Additionally, the possible impacts of natural hatch/birth order and natal brood composition in unmanipulated broods/litters on adult performance has been understudied. This experiment takes a novel approach to studying developmental stress by integrating and assessing multiple potential stressors and multiple secondary sexual traits simultaneously in order to determine how these influence both social and genetic reproductive success. Male zebra finches were colony-reared on high- or low-quality diets; as adults, they reproduced competitively on an intermediate diet. Male visual ornaments (beak color and cheek patch size) were found to be reliable signals of developmental stress, since they showed high sensitivity to multiple early conditions and predicted reproductive success. Contrary to the nutritional stress hypothesis, early diet did not impact song traits investigated. Male reproductive success was impacted by diet history, male hatch order, and natal brood traits of males' fathers, with daughter and son production sensitive to different subsets of identified reproductive stressors. Notably, diet influenced only son production and the hatch orders of males and their fathers influenced only daughter production. Findings suggest that the sexes respond differently to early life conditions, which may influence subsequent sex allocation patterns. Despite good general correspondence in patterns of social and genetic reproductive success, males that sired one or more extra-pair offspring achieved higher fitness through greater son production.
Data from: Early life experience drives short-term acclimation of metabolic and osmoregulatory traits in the leaf-eared mouse
We studied the putative effect of early experience on the physiological flexibility of metabolic and osmoregulatory traits in the leaf-eared mouse Phyllotis darwini, an altricial rodent inhabiting seasonal mediterranean environments. Adult individuals were collected in central Chile and maintained in breeding pairs. Pups were isolated after weaning and acclimated to different temperature (cold or warm) and water availability (unrestricted and restricted) until adulthood. Subsequently, individuals were re-acclimated to the opposite treatment. Rodents reared in warm and subjected to water restriction had lower basal metabolic rate (BMR), lower total evaporative water loss (TEWL), and body mass (Mb) compared to those developing in the cold treatment; nevertheless, individuals subjected to warm temperatures had greater relative medullary thickness (RMT) and urine concentrating ability (UCA). Cold-reared rodents re-acclimated to warm conditions exhibited physiological flexibility of metabolic traits; however, their osmoregulatory attributes did not vary. Conversely, warm-reared rodents re-acclimated to cold had reduced RMT and UCA, but the metabolic traits of these individuals did not change; these results suggest a trade-off between metabolic performance and renal capabilities that might hinder physiological acclimation. Our results support the hypothesis of ontogenetic dependence of short-term acclimation in osmoregulatory and metabolic traits in Phyllotis darwini.
Data from: Ontogenetic timing as a condition-dependent life history trait: high-condition males develop quickly, peak early and age fast
Within-population variation in ageing remains poorly understood. In males, condition-dependent investment in secondary sexual traits may incur costs which limit ability to invest in somatic maintenance. Moreover, males often express morphological and behavioural secondary sexual traits simultaneously, but the relative effects on ageing of investment in these traits remain unclear. We investigated the condition-dependence of male life history in the neriid fly Telostylinus angusticollis. Using a fully factorial design, we manipulated male early-life condition by varying nutrient content of the larval diet and, subsequently, manipulated opportunity for adult males to interact with rival males. We found that high-condition males developed more quickly and reached their reproductive peak earlier in life, but also experienced faster reproductive ageing and died sooner than low-condition males. By contrast, interactions with rival males reduced male lifespan but did not affect male reproductive ageing. High condition in early life is therefore associated with rapid ageing in T. angusticollis males, even in the absence of damaging male-male interactions. Our results show that abundant resources during the juvenile phase are used to expedite growth and development and enhance early-life reproductive performance at the expense of late-life performance and survival, demonstrating a clear link between male condition and ageing.
Figure 1 in Interspecific differences in early life-history traits in crested newts (Triturus cristatus superspecies, Caudata, Salamandridae) from the Balkan Peninsula
Figure 1. Larval growth rate of four Triturus species.
Traits Associated With Early Life Stress Among Treatment-Seeking Alcoholics
ClinicalTrials.gov study NCT02181608. IPD Sharing: Not stated. Countries: 0. Publications: 3.
Data from: Ontogenetic timing as a condition-dependent life history trait: high-condition males develop quickly, peak early and age fast
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Data from: Early life and transgenerational stressors impact secondary sexual traits and fitness
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