Offspring Provisioning Explains Clone-Specific Maternal Age Effects on Life History and Life Span in the Water Flea, Daphnia pulex

Plaistow, Stewart ORCID: 0000-0002-9003-6271, Shirley, Christopher, Collin, Helene, Cornell, Stephen ORCID: 0000-0001-6026-5236 and Harney, Ewan (2015) Offspring Provisioning Explains Clone-Specific Maternal Age Effects on Life History and Life Span in the Water Flea, Daphnia pulex. The American Naturalist, 186 (3). pp. 376-389.

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Official URL: https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/6822...

Abstract

Genetic inheritance underpins evolutionary theories of aging, but the role that non-genetic inheritance plays is unclear. Parental age reduces the lifespan of offspring in a diverse array of taxa but has not been explained from an evolutionary perspective. We quantified the effect that maternal age had on the growth and maturation decisions, life history, rates of senescence and lifespan of offspring from three Daphnia pulex clones collected from different populations. We then used that data to test general hypotheses proposed to explain maternal age effects on offspring lifespan. Three generations of breeding from young or old mothers produced dramatic differences in the life-histories of fourth generation offspring, including significant reductions in lifespan. The magnitude of the effect differed between clones suggesting that genetic and non-genetic factors ultimately underpin trait inheritance and shape patterns of aging. Older parents did not transmit a senescent state to their offspring. Instead, offspring from older ancestors had increased early-life reproductive effort, which resulted in an earlier onset of reproductive senescence, and an increased rate of actuarial senescence that shortened their lifespan. Our results provide a clear example of the need to consider multiple inheritance mechanisms when studying trait evolution.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	transgenerational plasticity, rates of senescence, Lansing effect, probabilistic maturation reaction norms, nongenetic inheritance, Daphnia pulex
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	14 Oct 2015 09:13
Last Modified:	15 Dec 2022 11:25
DOI:	10.1086/682277
Related URLs:	Author Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/2031460