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- Title
Predators and cannibals modulate sex-specific plasticity in life-history and immune traits.
- Authors
Mikolajewski, D. J.; Stoks, R.; Rolff, J.; Joop, G.
- Abstract
1. In organisms with complex life cycles, optimality models predict age and size at transition to translate larval condition into adult fitness. Recent studies, however, revealed that only a proportion of fitness is explained by age and size at transition. Moreover, sexes differ in the linkage of larval condition and adult fitness. 2. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that immune traits may be partly decoupled from age and size at habitat transition and therefore contribute to the sex-specific linkage of larval condition and adult fitness. 3. We reared larvae of the damselfly Coenagrion puella under the threat of predators and cannibals. We then examined sex-specific patterns in two life-history traits as well as two immune traits and tested for independency of the plastic responses among life-history and immune traits. 4. Results revealed immune traits to be partly decoupled from life-history traits. Moreover, the sexes differed in the plasticity of life-history as well as immune traits. Our results give strong evidence that sex-specific translation of larval condition into adult fitness may be linked to immune traits as well as age and size at transition.
- Subjects
CARNIVORA; PREDATORY animals; CANNIBALS; PHYSIOLOGICAL adaptation; ANIMAL adaptation; NEUROPLASTICITY; HABITATS; DEVELOPMENTAL biology; GENDER identity
- Publication
Functional Ecology, 2008, Vol 22, Issue 1, p114
- ISSN
0269-8463
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/j.1365-2435.2007.01357.x