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Family planning inDaphnia: resistance to starvation in offspring born to mothers grown at different food levels

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Summary

We observed a shift in maternal investment per offspring in clonal cultures of twoDaphnia species. Mothers grown at high food levels produced large clutches of smaller eggs but their offspring could not survive long under starvation conditions. Genetically identical mothers grown at low food levels produced small cultches of larger eggs, and their offspring, albeit low in numbers, were able to survive long periods of starvation. Our data show thatDaphnia mothers are capable of assessing food level and use this information in adjusting their fractional peroffspring allocation of reproductive resources.

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Author notes

  1. Castor Guisande

    Present address: Departamento de Ecologia, Facultad de Biologia, Apto. 1095, 41080, Sevilla, Spain

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Max-Planck-Institut für Limnologie, Postfach 165, W-2320, Plön, Federal Republic of Germany

    Z. Maciej Gliwicz & Castor Guisande

Authors
  1. Z. Maciej Gliwicz
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  2. Castor Guisande
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Gliwicz, Z.M., Guisande, C. Family planning inDaphnia: resistance to starvation in offspring born to mothers grown at different food levels. Oecologia 91, 463–467 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00650317

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00650317

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