Age‐dependent plasticity in reproductive investment, regeneration capacity and survival in a partially clonal animal (<i>Hydra oligactis</i>)

Sebestyén, Flóra; Miklós, Máté; Iván, Katalin; Tökölyi, Jácint

doi:10.1111/1365-2656.13287

Cited by 13 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 103 publications

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“…The hydra strains derived from our study population (see below) show an intermediate pattern, wherein most polyps undergo post‐reproductive senescence (interstitial stem cell depletion and diminishing regeneration ability), but some survive, regain the ability to feed and resume asexual reproduction (Sebestyén et al . 2020).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Experimental manipulation of body size alters life history in hydra

et al. 2021

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Body size has fundamental impacts on animal ecology and physiology but has been strongly influenced by recent climate change and human activities, such as size‐selective harvesting. Understanding the ecological and life history consequences of body size has proved difficult due to the inseparability of direct effects of body size from processes connected to it (such as growth rate and individual condition). Here, we used the cnidarian Hydra oligactis to directly manipulate body size and understand its causal effects on reproduction and senescence. We found that experimentally reducing size delayed sexual development and lowered fecundity, while post‐reproductive survival increased, implying that smaller individuals can physiologically detect their reduced size and adjust life history decisions to achieve higher survival. Our experiment suggests that ecological or human‐induced changes in body size will have immediate effects on life history and population dynamics through a growth‐independent link between body size, reproduction and senescence.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Both strains are well characterised in terms of their post‐reproductive senescence (Sebestyén et al . 2020). Polyps were housed individually in 6‐well tissue culture plates in a climate chamber at 18 °C and 12/12 hours light/dark cycle.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental manipulation of body size alters life history in hydra

et al. 2021

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“…Both originate from the same population in Tiszadorogma but were collected earlier (autumn 2016) and kept in the laboratory at 18°C and a 12/12‐h light/dark cycle since then (see Sebestyén et al. 2020 for a description of these two strains).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These asexual offspring have reduced propensity for sex and a higher asexual rate even if kept on 8°C with the adult polyp (Sebestyén et al. 2020). By asexually propagating these buds, a large number of asexual offspring can be generated at 8°C (cold strains).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Seasonal variation in sexual readiness in a facultatively sexual freshwater cnidarian with diapausing eggs

2021

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Facultative sexuality combines clonal propagation with sexual reproduction within a single life cycle. Clonal propagation enables quick population growth and the occupancy of favorable habitats. Sex, on the contrary, results in the production of offspring that are more likely to survive adverse conditions (such as the resting eggs of many freshwater invertebrates). In seasonal environments, the timing of sex is often triggered by environmental cues signaling the onset of winter (e.g., temperature drop or changes in photoperiod). Organisms switching to sex to produce resting eggs under these conditions face a trade‐off: Responding too early to an environmental cue increases the chances of missing out in clonal propagation, while having a delayed response to deteriorating conditions entails the risk of parental mortality before sexual reproduction could be completed. To mitigate these risks, increased sensitivity toward environmental cues with the onset of the winter might be an adaptive strategy. To test this hypothesis, we investigated sexual propensity and time to gonadogenesis in clonal strains derived from spring‐ and autumn‐collected polyps of Hydra oligactis, a facultatively sexual freshwater cnidarian where sex only occurs prior to the onset of winter. We show that autumn‐collected individuals and their asexual offspring have a higher propensity for sex and require less time for gonad development compared with strains established from spring‐collected individuals that were kept under similar conditions in the laboratory. To see whether the above results can be explained by phenotypic plasticity in sexual readiness, we exposed cold‐adapted laboratory strains to different lengths of warm periods. We found that sexual propensity increases with warm exposure. Our results suggest that reciprocal cold and warm periods are required for sex induction in H. oligactis, which would ensure proper timing of sex in this species. Increased sensitivity to environmental deterioration might help maximize fitness in environments that have both a predictable (seasonal) and an unpredictable component.

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Resource availability modulates the effect of body size on reproductive development

Gergely

Tökölyi

2023

Ecology and Evolution

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Within-species variation in animal body size predicts major differences in life history, for example, in reproductive development, fecundity, and even longevity. Purely from an energetic perspective, large size could entail larger energy reserves, fuelling different life functions, such as reproduction and survival (the "energy reserve" hypothesis).Conversely, larger body size could demand more energy for maintenance, and larger individuals might do worse in reproduction and survival under resource shortage (the "energy demand" hypothesis). Disentangling these alternative hypotheses is difficult because large size often correlates with better resource availability during growth, which could mask direct effects of body size on fitness traits. Here, we used experimental body size manipulation in the freshwater cnidarian Hydra oligactis, coupled with manipulation of resource (food) availability to separate direct effects of body size from resource availability on fitness traits (sexual development time, fecundity, and survival). We found significant interaction between body size and food availability in sexual development time in both males and females, such that large individuals responded less strongly to variation in resource availability. These results are consistent with an energy reserve effect of large size in Hydra. Surprisingly, the response was different in males and females: small and starved females delayed their reproduction, while small and starved males developed reproductive organs faster. In case of fecundity and survival, both size and food availability had significant effects, but we detected no interaction between them. Our observations suggest that in Hydra, small individuals are sensitive to fluctuations in resource availability, but these small individuals are able to adjust their reproductive development to maintain fitness.

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Age‐dependent plasticity in reproductive investment, regeneration capacity and survival in a partially clonal animal (Hydra oligactis)

Abstract: This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Cited by 13 publications

References 103 publications

Experimental manipulation of body size alters life history in hydra

Experimental manipulation of body size alters life history in hydra

Seasonal variation in sexual readiness in a facultatively sexual freshwater cnidarian with diapausing eggs

Resource availability modulates the effect of body size on reproductive development

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