Temperature-dependent trade-offs in maternal investments: An experimental test with two closely related soil microarthropods

TY - JOUR

T1 - Temperature-dependent trade-offs in maternal investments

T2 - An experimental test with two closely related soil microarthropods

AU - Marty, Arianne

AU - Boeriis, Timea

AU - Martínez-De León, Gerard

AU - Holmstrup, Martin

AU - Thakur, Madhav P.

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Author(s)

PY - 2022/5

Y1 - 2022/5

N2 - Organisms face trade-offs in their reproductive investment due to energetic constraints. Yet, little is known about how such investments may change at different temperatures, and particularly so in soil invertebrate organisms. Here, we studied two Collembola species (Folsomia candida and Proisotoma minuta) using a long term (several generations) temperature incubation experiment (separately at 15 and 20 °C) to investigate how egg size and egg numbers and the trade-off between the two are affected in two temperature regimes. Both species are known to grow at these temperatures, but the variation in their reproductive strategies are little known. Our results show that egg sizes of F. candida were larger in colder temperature whereas no such patterns were found in P. minuta. By contrast, we found no effect of the two temperatures on egg numbers (per clutch) in any of the species. Moreover, we observed a negative correlation (indication of a potential trade-off) between egg size and egg numbers (per clutch) at colder temperature in F. candida, which disappeared in warmer temperature in the same species. No such trade-offs were found in P. minuta. Our results highlight that temperature effects on maternal investments are both trait- and species-specific, particularly when Collembola species are within their optimal thermal niches.

AB - Organisms face trade-offs in their reproductive investment due to energetic constraints. Yet, little is known about how such investments may change at different temperatures, and particularly so in soil invertebrate organisms. Here, we studied two Collembola species (Folsomia candida and Proisotoma minuta) using a long term (several generations) temperature incubation experiment (separately at 15 and 20 °C) to investigate how egg size and egg numbers and the trade-off between the two are affected in two temperature regimes. Both species are known to grow at these temperatures, but the variation in their reproductive strategies are little known. Our results show that egg sizes of F. candida were larger in colder temperature whereas no such patterns were found in P. minuta. By contrast, we found no effect of the two temperatures on egg numbers (per clutch) in any of the species. Moreover, we observed a negative correlation (indication of a potential trade-off) between egg size and egg numbers (per clutch) at colder temperature in F. candida, which disappeared in warmer temperature in the same species. No such trade-offs were found in P. minuta. Our results highlight that temperature effects on maternal investments are both trait- and species-specific, particularly when Collembola species are within their optimal thermal niches.

KW - Collembola

KW - Egg numbers

KW - Egg size

KW - Parental investment

KW - Reproductive traits

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85127201951&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.ejsobi.2022.103402

DO - 10.1016/j.ejsobi.2022.103402

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:85127201951

SN - 1164-5563

VL - 110

JO - European Journal of Soil Biology

JF - European Journal of Soil Biology

M1 - 103402

ER -