Optimal life histories and food web position: linkages among somatic growth, reproductive investment, and mortality

2005 ◽  
Vol 62 (4) ◽  
pp. 738-746 ◽  
Author(s):  
B J Shuter ◽  
N P Lester ◽  
J LaRose ◽  
C F Purchase ◽  
K Vascotto ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Food Web ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
Yellow Perch ◽  
Lake Trout ◽  
Reproductive Investment ◽  
Life History Variation ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Top Predators ◽  
Optimal Life Histories

Life history variation among 60 Ontario populations of lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush), walleye (Sander vitreus), cisco (Coregonus artedii), and yellow perch (Perca flavescens) is presented and interpreted using a biphasic model of individual growth that specifically accounts for the significant shift in energy allocation that accompanies sexual maturity. We show that the constraints imposed on life history variation by the character of the biphasic growth model are such that optimal life histories will exhibit associations among growth parameters, reproductive investment, and mortality that are largely consistent with associations evident in both our data set and earlier empirical studies; the von Bertalanffy growth parameter k varies with reproductive investment, and both k and investment vary with adult mortality. Our analysis suggests that within a food web, life history parameters will shift in a predictable fashion with the decreases in mortality expected as one moves from primary consumers up toward top predators. This expectation is supported by the differences in life history parameters that we observe between the two top predators in our data set (lake trout and walleye) and the two mid-trophic level consumers (cisco and yellow perch).

Fine-scale population structure in lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) influenced by life history variation in the Husky Lakes drainage basin, Northwest Territories, Canada

2018 ◽  
Vol 75 (7) ◽  
pp. 1070-1081 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin C. Kissinger ◽  
Les N. Harris ◽  
Danny Swainson ◽  
W. Gary Anderson ◽  
Margaret F. Docker ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Northwest Territories ◽  
Brackish Water ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
Lake Trout ◽  
Drainage Basin ◽  
Salvelinus Namaycush ◽  
Life History Variation ◽  
Genetic Structuring ◽  
Nonbreeding Season

Partial anadromy is common within salmonid populations, where resident and anadromous individuals interbreed and overlap in habitat use during portions of life. Deviation to this definition occurs within the Husky Lakes drainage basin (HLDB), Northwest Territories, where freshwater resident, semi-anadromous, and brackish-water resident lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) life history types are documented. In this study, microsatellite DNA variation was assayed to evaluate genetic structuring among life history types from the HLDB and adjacent lower Mackenzie River system. Significant differentiation was resolved among most locations and life histories (global FST = 0.192). Brackish-water residents were differentiated from all locations and life histories, including sympatric semi-anadromous individuals, providing evidence for genetically fixed strategies. Also, this provides the first evidence of breeding partial migration in salmonids using brackish-water environments, where brackish-water residents and semi-anadromous migrants interact during the nonbreeding season, but the latter migrate elsewhere to spawn. Alternatively, the lack of genetic differentiation between semi-anadromous and Sitidgi Lake residents suggests conditional mating tactics may also influence partial anadromy. This work provides novel insights into partial anadromy in Arctic salmonids and expands our knowledge of biodiversity in this region.

scholarly journals Ultrasound imaging identifies life history variation in resident Cutthroat Trout

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. e0246365
Author(s):  
Kellie J. Carim ◽  
Scott Relyea ◽  
Craig Barfoot ◽  
Lisa A. Eby ◽  
John A. Kronenberger ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Ultrasound Imaging ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
Cutthroat Trout ◽  
Error Rates ◽  
Reproductive Status ◽  
Lifetime Reproductive Success ◽  
Life History Variation ◽  
Westslope Cutthroat Trout ◽  
Isolated Populations

Human activities that fragment fish habitat have isolated inland salmonid populations. This isolation is associated with loss of migratory life histories and declines in population density and abundance. Isolated populations exhibiting only resident life histories may be more likely to persist if individuals can increase lifetime reproductive success by maturing at smaller sizes or earlier ages. Therefore, accurate estimates of age and size at maturity across resident salmonid populations would improve estimates of population viability. Commonly used methods for assessing maturity such as dissection, endoscopy and hormone analysis are invasive and may disturb vulnerable populations. Ultrasound imaging is a non-invasive method that has been used to measure reproductive status across fish taxa. However, little research has assessed the accuracy of ultrasound for determining maturation status of small-bodied fish, or reproductive potential early in a species’ reproductive cycle. To address these knowledge gaps, we tested whether ultrasound imaging could be used to identify maturing female Westslope Cutthroat Trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii lewisi). Our methods were accurate at identifying maturing females reared in a hatchery setting up to eight months prior to spawning, with error rates ≤ 4.0%; accuracy was greater for larger fish. We also imaged fish in a field setting to examine variation in the size of maturing females among six wild, resident populations of Westslope Cutthroat Trout in western Montana. The median size of maturing females varied significantly across populations. We observed oocyte development in females as small as 109 mm, which is smaller than previously documented for this species. Methods tested in this study will allow researchers and managers to collect information on reproductive status of small-bodied salmonids without disrupting fish during the breeding season. This information can help elucidate life history traits that promote persistence of isolated salmonid populations.

scholarly journals Density Dependence, Evolutionary Optimization, and the Diversification of Avian Life Histories

The Condor ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 102 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert E. Ricklefs
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Life Table ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
Life History Traits ◽  
Evolutionary Ecology ◽  
Reproductive Rate ◽  
Empirical Modeling ◽  
Adult Survival ◽  
Life History Variation ◽  
Evolutionary Response

Abstract Although we have learned much about avian life histories during the 50 years since the seminal publications of David Lack, Alexander Skutch, and Reginald Moreau, we still do not have adequate explanations for some of the basic patterns of variation in life-history traits among birds. In part, this reflects two consequences of the predominance of evolutionary ecology thinking during the past three decades. First, by blurring the distinction between life-history traits and life-table variables, we have tended to divorce life histories from their environmental context, which forms the link between the life history and the life table. Second, by emphasizing constrained evolutionary responses to selective factors, we have set aside alternative explanations for observed correlations among life-history traits and life-table variables. Density-dependent feedback and independent evolutionary response to correlated aspects of the environment also may link traits through different mechanisms. Additionally, in some cases we have failed to evaluate quantitatively ideas that are compelling qualitatively, ignored or explained away relevant empirical data, and neglected logical implications of certain compelling ideas. Comparative analysis of avian life histories shows that species are distributed along a dominant slow-fast axis. Furthermore, among birds, annual reproductive rate and adult mortality are directly proportional to each other, requiring that pre-reproductive survival is approximately constant. This further implies that age at maturity increases dramatically with increasing adult survival rate. The significance of these correlations is obscure, particularly because survival and reproductive rates at each age include the effects of many life-history traits. For example, reproductive rate is determined by clutch size, nesting success, season length, and nest-cycle length, each of which represents the outcome of many different interactions of an individual's life-history traits with its environment. Resolution of the most basic issues raised by patterns of life histories clearly will require innovative empirical, modeling, and experimental approaches. However, the most fundamental change required at this time is a broadening of the evolutionary ecology paradigm to include a variety of alternative mechanisms for generating patterns of life-history variation.

scholarly journals Shy birds play it safe: personality in captivity predicts risk responsiveness during reproduction in the wild

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 20140178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ella F. Cole ◽  
John L. Quinn
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Reproductive Investment ◽  
Parus Major ◽  
Great Tit ◽  
Personality Types ◽  
Risk Averse ◽  
Trial Period ◽  
Life History Variation ◽  
In Captivity ◽  
In The Wild

Despite a growing body of evidence linking personality to life-history variation and fitness, the behavioural mechanisms underlying these relationships remain poorly understood. One mechanism thought to play a key role is how individuals respond to risk. Relatively reactive and proactive (or shy and bold) personality types are expected to differ in how they manage the inherent trade-off between productivity and survival, with bold individuals being more risk-prone with lower survival probability, and shy individuals adopting a more risk-averse strategy. In the great tit ( Parus major ), the shy–bold personality axis has been well characterized in captivity and linked to fitness. Here, we tested whether ‘exploration behaviour’, a captive assay of the shy–bold axis, can predict risk responsiveness during reproduction in wild great tits. Relatively slow-exploring (shy) females took longer than fast-exploring (bold) birds to resume incubation after a novel object, representing an unknown threat, was attached to their nest-box, with some shy individuals not returning within the 40 min trial period. Risk responsiveness was consistent within individuals over days. These findings provide rare, field-based experimental evidence that shy individuals prioritize survival over reproductive investment, supporting the hypothesis that personality reflects life-history variation through links with risk responsiveness.

Empirical Models of Fish Response to Lake Acidification

1987 ◽  
Vol 44 (8) ◽  
pp. 1432-1442 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth H. Reckhow ◽  
Robert W. Black ◽  
Thomas B. Stockton Jr. ◽  
J. David Vogt ◽  
Judith G. Wood
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Water Chemistry ◽  
Brook Trout ◽  
Yellow Perch ◽  
Goodness Of Fit ◽  
Lake Trout ◽  
Model Misspecification ◽  
Lake Acidification ◽  
Data Set ◽  
The Relationship

A large historical data set from the Adirondack region of New York was compiled to study the relationship between water chemistry variables associated with acid precipitation and the presence/absence of selected fish species. The data set was used to examine simple statistical models for fish presence/absence, as a function of the water chemistry variables, for brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis), lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush), white sucker (Catostomus commersoni), and yellow perch (Perca flavescens). Of these models, only those for brook trout and lake trout were found to be acceptable based on statistical goodness-of-fit criteria; thus, parameters for models of these two species alone were estimated using maximum likelihood logistic regression. Candidate models for brook trout and lake trout were then examined, with particular consideration for the problems associated with model misspecification, errors-in-variables, and multicollinearity. For each of the two species, a model was recommended that may be used to predict the effect of changes in lake acidification on species presence/absence in lakes in the Adirondack region.

scholarly journals The influence of juvenile and adult environments on life-history trajectories

2005 ◽  
Vol 273 (1587) ◽  
pp. 741-750 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Taborsky
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
Adult Life ◽  
Growth Conditions ◽  
Offspring Size ◽  
Juvenile Growth ◽  
Life History Variation ◽  
Major Life ◽  
Adult Growth ◽  
Trade Offs

There is increasing evidence that the environment experienced early in life can strongly influence adult life histories. It is largely unknown, however, how past and present conditions influence suites of life-history traits regarding major life-history trade-offs. Especially in animals with indeterminate growth, we may expect that environmental conditions of juveniles and adults independently or interactively influence the life-history trade-off between growth and reproduction after maturation. Juvenile growth conditions may initiate a feedback loop determining adult allocation patterns, triggered by size-dependent mortality risk. I tested this possibility in a long-term growth experiment with mouthbrooding cichlids. Females were raised either on a high-food or low-food diet. After maturation half of them were switched to the opposite treatment, while the other half remained unchanged. Adult growth was determined by current resource availability, but key reproductive traits like reproductive rate and offspring size were only influenced by juvenile growth conditions, irrespective of the ration received as adults. Moreover, the allocation of resources to growth versus reproduction and to offspring number versus size were shaped by juvenile rather than adult ecology. These results indicate that early individual history must be considered when analysing causes of life-history variation in natural populations.

Life history variation in plants: an exploration of the fast-slow continuum hypothesis

1996 ◽  
Vol 351 (1345) ◽  
pp. 1341-1348 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
Sexual Maturity ◽  
Life History Traits ◽  
Continuum Hypothesis ◽  
Adult Mortality ◽  
Life Cycles ◽  
Differential Mortality ◽  
Life History Variation ◽  
Net Reproductive Rate

Several empirical models have attempted to account for the covariation among life history traits observed in a variety of organisms. One of these models, the fast-slow continuum hypothesis, emphasizes the role played by mortality at different stages of the life cycle in shaping the large array of life history variation. Under this scheme, species can be arranged from those suffering high adult mortality levels to those undergoing relatively low adult mortality. This differential mortality is responsible for the evolution of contrasting life histories on either end of the continuum. Species undergoing high adult mortality are expected to have shorter life cycles, faster development rates and higher fecundity than those experiencing lower adult mortality. The theory has proved accurate in describing the evolution of life histories in several animal groups but has previously not been tested in plants. Here we test this theory using demographic information for 83 species of perennial plants. In accordance with the fast-slow continuum, plants undergoing high adult mortality have shorter lifespans and reach sexual maturity at an earlier age. However, demographic traits related to reproduction (the intrinsic rate of natural increase, the net reproductive rate and the average rate of decrease in the intensity of natural selection on fecundity) do not show the covariation expected with longevity, age at first reproducion and life expectancy at sexual maturity. Contrary to the situation in animals, plants with multiple meristems continuously increase their size and, consequently, their fecundity and reproductive value. This may balance the negative effect of mortality on fitness, thus having no apparent effect in the sign of the covariation between these two goups of life history traits.

scholarly journals Insulin-like growth factor-1 is associated with life-history variation across Mammalia

2014 ◽  
Vol 281 (1782) ◽  
pp. 20132458 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eli M. Swanson ◽  
Ben Dantzer
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Growth Factor ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
Life History Traits ◽  
Mammalian Species ◽  
Insulin Like Growth Factor ◽  
Life History Variation ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Path Analyses ◽  
Size Growth

Despite the diversity of mammalian life histories, persistent patterns of covariation have been identified, such as the ‘fast–slow’ axis of life-history covariation. Smaller species generally exhibit ‘faster’ life histories, developing and reproducing rapidly, but dying young. Hormonal mechanisms with pleiotropic effects may mediate such broad patterns of life-history variation. Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) is one such mechanism because heightened IGF-1 activity is related to traits associated with faster life histories, such as increased growth and reproduction, but decreased lifespan. Using comparative methods, we show that among 41 mammalian species, increased plasma IGF-1 concentrations are associated with fast life histories and altricial reproductive patterns. Interspecific path analyses show that the effects of IGF-1 on these broad patterns of life-history variation are through its direct effects on some individual life-history traits (adult body size, growth rate, basal metabolic rate) and through its indirect effects on the remaining life-history traits. Our results suggest that the role of IGF-1 as a mechanism mediating life-history variation is conserved over the evolutionary time period defining mammalian diversification, that hormone–trait linkages can evolve as a unit, and that suites of life-history traits could be adjusted in response to selection through changes in plasma IGF-1.

Life-history variation among four shallow-water morphotypes of lake trout from Great Bear Lake, Canada

2016 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 193-203 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louise Chavarie ◽  
Kimberly Howland ◽  
Paul Venturelli ◽  
Benjamin C. Kissinger ◽  
Ross Tallman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Shallow Water ◽  
Lake Trout ◽  
Life History Variation ◽  
Bear Lake

scholarly journals Marine trophic diversity in an anadromous fish is linked to its life-history variation in fresh water

2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 20120824 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan P. Johnson ◽  
Daniel E. Schindler
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
Sockeye Salmon ◽  
Freshwater Ecosystems ◽  
Life History Variation ◽  
Trophic Diversity ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Salmon Population ◽  
Freshwater Habitats ◽  
Foraging Tactics

We used carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes from muscle tissues accrued in the ocean to examine whether marine foraging tactics in anadromous sockeye salmon ( Oncorhynchus nerka ) are linked to their ultimate freshwater life history as adults. Adults from large-bodied populations spawning in deep freshwater habitats had more enriched δ 15 N than individuals from small-bodied populations from shallow streams. Within populations, earlier maturing individuals had higher δ 15 N than older fish. These differences in δ 15 N suggest that the fish with different life histories or spawning habitats in freshwater either fed at different trophic positions or in different habitats in the ocean. We propose that, nested within interspecific diversity in the ecological attributes of salmon, population and life-history diversity in spawning adults is associated with variation in marine foraging tactics. These results further indicate that the trophic diversity of sockeye salmon in the ocean may be linked to trade-offs in ecological and evolutionary constraints they eventually experience as adults in freshwater ecosystems.

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