Zooplankton competition promotes trade-offs affecting diapause in rotifers

Abstract

Facultative diapause should be favoured by natural selection in temporary variable habitats. Diapause patterns are evolutionary constrained because producing diapause is resource demanding, which might have implications for competitive dynamics and competitor coexistence through mechanisms such as the storage effect. Besides these implications, competition intensity might affect the quality of the diapausing stages and the reproductive success of the offspring emerging from them. We experimentally analysed traits involved in diapause in the cyclically parthenogenetic rotifer Brachionus calyciflorus, in relation to the presence of its competitor, the cladoceran Moina micrura. Under competition with Moina, Brachionus produced fewer diapausing eggs, most of which possessed visual attributes indicating a higher quality. These diapausing eggs produced under a competitive environment had a higher hatching success; however, the hatchlings exhibited a lower population growth rate. We propose the existence of trade-offs between traits related to diapause: the number of produced eggs, quality of these eggs and hatchling performance. Our results show that interspecific competition may cause fine-tuned changes in the life cycle patterns of the populations. Furthermore, these changes could affect that abundance and performance of competitors and thereby drive back effects on the competitive output. These diapause-driven feedback mechanisms may have strong implications for the dynamics of the natural communities.