Why are offspring born larger when it is colder? Phenotypic plasticity for offspring size in the cladoceran Simocephalus vetulus (Müller)

Details

Serval ID
serval:BIB_00D0EA334A0D
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Title
Why are offspring born larger when it is colder? Phenotypic plasticity for offspring size in the cladoceran Simocephalus vetulus (Müller)
Journal
Functional Ecology
Author(s)
Perrin N.
ISSN
0269-8463
Publication state
Published
Issued date
1988
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Volume
2
Number
3
Pages
283-288
Language
english
Notes
IDDBEEB9EFDB69_
http://www.jstor.org/stable/2389399
Abstract
It has been predicted on theorerical grounds (Sibly & Calow, 1983; Taylor & Williams, 1984) that optimal offspring size should be highly sensitive to juvenile growth and survival rates. To test such models, genetically-identical individuals of Simicephalus vetulus were reared at different temperatures and monitored for offspring size and juvenile growth rate. As adult size correlates negatively with temperature, an analysis of covariance was performed to separate the effects of temperature and maternal size. The result is that offspring size indeed correlates negatively with juvenile growth rate. Comparisons are made with field observation of several authors on seasonal variation of offspring size and alternative explanations are discussed. It is concluded that present experiments support the prediction of the theoretical models.
Keywords
Cladoceran: offsrping size, groeth, phenotypic plasticity, life-history theory
Web of science
Create date
24/01/2008 18:53
Last modification date
20/08/2019 13:23
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