Exposure to monocrotophos pesticide during sexual development causes the feminization/demasculinization of the reproductive traits and a reduction in the reproductive success of male guppies (Poecilia reticulata)

2012 ◽  
Vol 263 (2) ◽  
pp. 163-170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hua Tian ◽  
Yun Li ◽  
Wei Wang ◽  
Peng Wu ◽  
Shaoguo Ru
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Sexual Development ◽  
Poecilia Reticulata ◽  
Reproductive Traits

scholarly journals Reproduction and Offspring Sex Ratios Differ Markedly among Closely Related Hyperparasitoids Living in the Same Microhabitats

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 243-251 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey A. Harvey ◽  
Lucas de Haan ◽  
Oriol Verdeny-Vilalta ◽  
Bertanne Visser ◽  
Rieta Gols
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Sex Ratios ◽  
Reproductive Traits ◽  
Female Offspring ◽  
Forest Edge ◽  
Cotesia Glomerata ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Lifetime Reproductive Success ◽  
Closely Related Species ◽  
Offspring Sex

Abstract Closely related species in nature usually exhibit very similar phylogenetically conserved traits, such as reproduction, behavior and development. Here, we compared fecundity schedules, lifetime reproductive success and offspring sex ratios in three congeneric facultative hyperparasitoid wasps that exhibit several overlapping traits and which co-occur in the same small-scale habitats. Gelis agilis, G. proximus and G. hortensis are abundant in meadows and forest edge habitats in the Netherlands. Gelis agilis is asexual (all female), whereas the other two species reproduce sexually. Here they developed on cocoons of the primary parasitoid Cotesia glomerata. When provided with unlimited hosts, lifetime reproductive success was three times higher in G. proximus than in G. agilis with G. hortensis producing intermediate numbers of offspring. All three species depleted their teneral reserves during their lives. Females of G. proximus and G. hortensis lived significantly longer than females of G. agilis. Offspring sex ratios in young G. proximus mothers were female-biased and marginally male-biased in G. hortensis. As mothers aged, however, the ratio of male:female progeny produced rapidly increased until no daughters emerged later in life. Our results reveal significant differences in reproductive traits among the three species despite them co-occurring in the same microhabitats, being very closely related and morphologically similar. The increase in the production of male progeny by Gelis mothers over time suggests a depletion in sperm number or viability with age. This is especially interesting, given that Gelis species are among the least fecund parasitoids thus far studied. It is likely that in the field most Gelis mothers are probably only able to parasitize a few hosts and to maintain the production of female offspring.

scholarly journals Survival of the unfittest: Metabolic trade-offs expose unforeseen benefits of plasmid carriage

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Reding
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Tetracycline Resistance ◽  
Reproductive Traits ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Transmissible Plasmid ◽  
Underlying Principle ◽  
Wild Type Counterpart ◽  
Plasmid Carriage ◽  
Competition Assays

Population genetics theory defines fitness as reproductive success: Mutants reproducing faster than their wild-type counterpart are favoured by selection. Otherwise, the mutations are lost. Here I show that unfit mutants can thrive when selection favours non-reproductive traits if they engage in a trade-off with fitness. I co-maintained two constructs of Escherichia coli, with and without a non-transmissible plasmid, for more than 80 generations in competition assays that favoured yield. Plasmid carriage prompted a known metabolic trade-off in the bacterium between growth rate per capita—reproductive success—and yield. Importantly the plasmid carries a tetracycline-resistance gene, tet(36). By favouring yield, cells harbouring the plasmid preserved it without exposure to the antibiotic. Unsurprisingly, these cells outgrew their fitter plasmid-free competitor with trace low tetracycline concentrations. Fitness competition assays are widely used, but experimental validation of their underlying principle is rare. These assays are the ‘gold-standard’ in genetics, but my work suggests their reliability may be lower than previously thought.

scholarly journals Bolder guppies do not have more mating partners, yet sire more offspring

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Magdalena Herdegen-Radwan
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Personality Traits ◽  
Personality Trait ◽  
Poecilia Reticulata ◽  
Direct Evidence ◽  
Animal Groups ◽  
Fitness Consequences

Abstract Background Intra-individual stable but inter-individually variable behaviours, i.e. personalities, are commonly reported across diverse animal groups, yet the reasons for their maintenance remain controversial. Therefore, studying fitness consequences of personality traits is necessary to discriminate between alternative explanations. Results Here, I measured boldness, a highly repeatable personality trait, and reproductive success in male guppies, Poecilia reticulata. I found that bolder males had higher reproductive success than their shyer conspecifics and they sired offspring with females who had larger clutches. Conclusions This result provides direct evidence for fitness consequences of boldness in the guppy. It suggests that the effect may be driven by bolder males mating with more fecund females.

Predation impacts brain allometry and offspring production in female guppies (Poecilia reticulata)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Regina Vega-Trejo ◽  
David Joseph Mitchell ◽  
Catarina Vila Pouca ◽  
Alexander Kotrschal
Keyword(s):  
Poecilia Reticulata ◽  
Brain Size ◽  
Relative Size ◽  
Reproductive Traits ◽  
Brain Evolution ◽  
Predation Pressure ◽  
Control Fish ◽  
Brain Anatomy ◽  
Offspring Production ◽  
The Impact

Survivorship under predation exerts strong selection on reproductive traits as well as on brain anatomy of prey. However, how exactly predation and brain evolution are linked has not been resolved as current empirical evidence is inconclusive. This may be due to predation pressure having different effects across life stages and/or due to confounding factors in ecological comparisons of predation pressure. Here, we used adult guppies (Poecilia reticulata) to experimentally test the impact of a period of strong predation on brain anatomy and reproduction of surviving individuals. We compared the survivors to control fish, which were exposed to visual and olfactory predator cues but could not be predated on, and found that predation impacted the relative size of female brains. This effect was dependent on body size as larger female survivors showed relatively larger brains, while smaller survivors showed relatively smaller brains when compared to control animals. There were no differences in male relative brain size between the treatments, nor for any specific relative brain region sizes for either sex. Moreover, survivors produced more offspring, but did not show shorter interbrood intervals than controls. Our results corroborate the important, yet complex, role of predation as an important factor behind variation in brain anatomy.

The effect of multiple mating on female reproductive success in the simultaneously hermaphroditic land snail Arianta arbustorum

1993 ◽  
Vol 71 (12) ◽  
pp. 2431-2436 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaofeng Chen ◽  
Bruno Baur
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Hatching Success ◽  
Multiple Mating ◽  
Reproductive Traits ◽  
Land Snail ◽  
First Year ◽  
Female Reproductive Success ◽  
Female Function ◽  
Arianta Arbustorum ◽  
Second Year

The simultaneously hermaphroditic land snail Arianta arbustorum mates several times in the course of a reproductive season. Repeated matings might be adaptive for the male function of A. arbustorum to inseminate several "females." We designed an experiment to evaluate the effects of repeated mating on the female reproductive success of this hermaphrodite. Reproductive traits and survival were examined over 2 years in individuals that copulated several times per year (snails were kept in pairs), in individuals that copulated twice (once at the beginning of each year) or once (at the beginning of the first year only), and in individuals prevented from copulating (they were kept isolated). Copulations were not always reciprocally successful: 3 of 57 snails (5.3%) failed to produce fertile eggs, although their mates reproduced successfully. Similarly, 2 of 15 pairs (13.3%) failed to reproduce successfully. Snails allowed to mate repeatedly within each season tended to lay more eggs than snails that mated once per year. However, the numbers of hatchlings did not differ significantly between the two treatment groups, because eggs laid by snails allowed to mate repeatedly had a lower hatching success. Snails that remated in the second year laid more eggs that had higher hatching success, and thus produced more hatchlings than snails that mated once at the beginning of the first year only. Snails that were prevented from mating produced a few hatchlings (by self-fertilization) in the second year; their reproductive success was less than 1% of that of mated snails. Our results suggest that multiple mating is also adaptive for the female function of A. arbustorum by increasing female fecundity and fertility and serving as a hedge against unsuccessful copulations.

Embryonic exposure to dimethoate and/or deltamethrin impairs sexual development and programs reproductive success in adult male offspring mice

Andrologia ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 44 ◽  
pp. 661-666 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Ben Slima ◽  
F. Ben Abdallah ◽  
L. Keskes-Ammar ◽  
Z. Mallek ◽  
A. El Feki ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Adult Male ◽  
Sexual Development ◽  
Male Offspring ◽  
Embryonic Exposure

Rarity and reproductive biology: habitat specialists reveal a complex relationship

Botany ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 91 (6) ◽  
pp. 349-359 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole E. Miller-Struttmann
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Reproductive Traits ◽  
Isolated Populations ◽  
Habitat Specificity ◽  
Range Restriction ◽  
Widespread Species ◽  
Fragmented Populations ◽  
Floral Displays ◽  
Pollen Receipt ◽  
Pollination Systems

Understanding how species with historically fragmented populations are able to persist will provide insights into which factors may be important for the maintenance of newly fragmented populations. Plants with fragmented and isolated populations, such as habitat-specialist (HS) species, are likely less attractive to pollinators and may have adaptive traits that compensate for these distributional challenges, such as larger flowers and more specialized pollination systems. If they do not have these adaptations, HS species are predicted to have lower reproductive success and be more pollen limited than widespread species. Here, I test three predictions concerning differences in reproductive traits that are known to affect attractiveness to pollinators, pollen receipt, and reproductive success, by comparing three HS species to congeneric species with broader habitat use (HT, habitat tolerators). Two of the three HS species lend partial support to the predictions that HS species have larger floral displays and more specialized pollination systems. The third HS species did not have either of these traits but did have lower relative seedset compared to its matched HT. These results provide preliminary support for a positive relationship between habitat specificity and pollination specialization, and for the role of low fecundity in contributing to range restriction of HS species.

scholarly journals Growth and Reproductive Phenology of Welwitschia Mirabilis Hook. F.

2013 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Di Salvatore ◽  
A. M. Carafa ◽  
G. Carratù
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Reproductive Traits ◽  
Botanical Garden ◽  
Day Length ◽  
Reproductive Phenology ◽  
Embryo Abortion ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Welwitschia Mirabilis ◽  
Empty Seeds ◽  
Filled Seeds

Reproductive phenology, reproductive traits and the pre emergent reproductive success (PERS) of Welwitschia mirabilis were studied in plants growing in the Botanical Garden of Portici. The leaves grow throughout the year and growth is positively correlated to temperature and day length; at flowering, the growth rate slows down. The plants have a reproductive cycle lasting 9-10 months; male plants form more branches and strobili than females, female strobili are larger than male ones. Both male and female plants produce cones that differ in the color of the covering bracts. Plants produce a lot of seeds, but most of them are empty; therefore the seed/ovule ratio is low. Filled and empty seeds are morphologically similar; filled seeds have high vitality that is maintained for several years. As probable causes of the low seed/ovule ratio, both pollination and embryo abortion are taken into account; our observations lead us to believe that the embryo abortion hypothesis is more accurate. However, since each plant may produce a discrete number of cones and filled seeds are highly viable, ultimately Welwitschia appears to be a rather efficient plant in terms of pre emergent reproductive success.

scholarly journals Hormone levels predict individual differences in reproductive success in a passerine bird

2011 ◽  
Vol 278 (1717) ◽  
pp. 2537-2545 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenny Q. Ouyang ◽  
Peter J. Sharp ◽  
Alistair Dawson ◽  
Michael Quetting ◽  
Michaela Hau
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Individual Variation ◽  
Hormonal Regulation ◽  
Natural Populations ◽  
Passer Domesticus ◽  
Reproductive Traits ◽  
Passerine Bird ◽  
House Sparrows ◽  
Baseline Corticosterone ◽  
Reproductive Phases

Hormones mediate major physiological and behavioural components of the reproductive phenotype of individuals. To understand basic evolutionary processes in the hormonal regulation of reproductive traits, we need to know whether, and during which reproductive phases, individual variation in hormone concentrations relates to fitness in natural populations. We related circulating concentrations of prolactin and corticosterone to parental behaviour and reproductive success during both the pre-breeding and the chick-rearing stages in both individuals of pairs of free-living house sparrows, Passer domesticus . Prolactin and baseline corticosterone concentrations in pre-breeding females, and prolactin concentrations in pre-breeding males, predicted total number of fledglings. When the strong effect of lay date on total fledgling number was corrected for, only pre-breeding baseline corticosterone, but not prolactin, was negatively correlated with the reproductive success of females. During the breeding season, nestling provisioning rates of both sexes were negatively correlated with stress-induced corticosterone levels. Lastly, individuals of both sexes with low baseline corticosterone before and high baseline corticosterone during breeding raised the most offspring, suggesting that either the plasticity of this trait contributes to reproductive success or that high parental effort leads to increased hormone concentrations. Thus hormone concentrations both before and during breeding, as well as their seasonal dynamics, predict reproductive success, suggesting that individual variation in absolute concentrations and in plasticity is functionally significant, and, if heritable, may be a target of selection.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document