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Free keywords:
Cladocera; Daphnia; food limitation; peroffspring investment; resistance to starvation
Abstract:
We observed a shift in maternal investment per offspring in clonal cultures of two Daphnia 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 clutches of larger eggs, and their offspring, albeit low in numbers, were able to survive long periods of starvation. Our data show that Daphnia mothers are capable of assessing food level and use this information in adjusting their fractional per-offspring allocation of reproductive resources.
