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Higher reproductive success for chimeras than solitary individuals in the kelp Lessonia spicata but no benefit for individual genotypes

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Abstract

Chimerism is a peculiar, yet widespread, type of group living in which genetically heterogeneous entities are created through fusion between conspecifics. Here we tested whether chimerism provides direct benefits to the kelp Lessonia spicata, by analyzing its consequences on reproductive investment and success, at both the genotype and thallus levels. In addition, we quantified the frequency of chimerism in two natural populations, tested if group members were close kin, and evaluated the effects of relatedness and the number of genotypes per thallus on reproduction. Chimeric thalli were frequent (>60 %) in natural populations of L. spicata. In most cases, average intragroup relatedness was not significantly different from the background population. Reproductive investment was not significantly affected by the type of thallus (chimeric versus non-chimeric), by the number of genotypes per thallus or the average relatedness within thallus. Chimerism did not result in net benefits or costs in terms of genotypic reproductive success or probability of reproducing at the genotypic level. Yet, at the thallus level, chimerism increased reproductive success and the probability of reproducing, since more than one genotype reproduced in chimeric thallus. At the population level, chimerism affects L. spicata reproductive success by allowing the coexistence of a higher density of potential reproducers and mates compared to a scenario with only non-chimeric thallus. Chimerism may then have an important effect on the effective population size and possibly in reducing selfing rates.

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Abbreviations

Blades:

Flattened, leaf-like structures of algae, where most of the photosynthetic activity takes place, and where reproductive structure differentiate from vegetative, photosynthetic tissue

Holdfast:

The massive structure that sticks the alga onto the substratum, from which stipes emerge

Stipe:

A stem-like structure emerging from the holdfast and producing blades

Sorus (pl. sori):

A cluster of sporangia, where meiosis occur, which develops mostly on blades

Thallus (pl. thalli):

The whole organism, including the holdfast, stipes and blades. It can be chimeric (composed by more than one genotype) or non-chimeric (composed by a single genotype)

Chimera:

A genetically heterogeneous entity formed after the fusion of different genotypes

Reproductive investment:

The amount of algal reproductive tissue

Genotypic reproductive success:

The number of offspring genetically assigned to a parental genotype

Standardized genotypic reproductive success:

The number of offspring assigned to a parental genotype divided by the number of stipes bearing that genotype within the thallus

Group reproductive success:

The sum of the genotypic reproductive success of each genotype within a chimeric thallus

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Acknowledgments

This study is dedicated to Paula Ayerdi (in memorian), who planned and conducted all the field work. We would like to thank to all who helped with field sampling and laboratory measurements. Help provided by G. Peralta and T. Muñoz at the laboratory is also appreciated. We thank L. Ebensperger and two anonymous reviewers who helped to improve this manuscript. Funding was provided by grants FONDECYT 1090742, Fondo Basal proyecto FB001 (CeBiB) and ICM P10–033F to SF. FAC was supported by a PhD scholarship from CONICYT.

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  1. Centro de Conservación Marina, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Casilla 114-D, Santiago, Chile

    Fernanda Araujo Casares & Sylvain Faugeron

  2. UMI 3614 Evolutionary Biology and Ecology of Algae, CNRS – Sorbonne Universités UPMC Univ. Paris 06 – Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile – Universidad Austral de Chile, Santiago, Chile

    Fernanda Araujo Casares & Sylvain Faugeron

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  1. Fernanda Araujo Casares
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  2. Sylvain Faugeron
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Correspondence to Sylvain Faugeron.

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Araujo Casares, F., Faugeron, S. Higher reproductive success for chimeras than solitary individuals in the kelp Lessonia spicata but no benefit for individual genotypes. Evol Ecol 30, 953–972 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10682-016-9849-0

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