Morphological and enzymatic correlates of aerobic and burst performance in different populations of Trinidadian guppiesPoecilia reticulata

Abstract

Intra-and interspecific variation in locomotor performance has long been of interest to comparative physiologists. Interspecific comparative studies of trait variation are often used to provide insights into both evolutionary adaptation and the mechanistic foundations of performance. A related approach (which reduces the problem of phylogenetic nonindependence among related species) is to use correlative analyses of natural intraspecific variation at different levels of integration (e.g. enzymes, organelles, cells, organs, organ systems and the intact animal) to yield insights into the functional basis of whole-animal performance (e.g. Hulbert and Else, 1981;Garland, 1984;Bennett, 1987Bennett, , 1997Bennett et al., 1989;Mangum and Hochachka, 1998). For example, several recent papers have shown correlative links between avian energy metabolism (basal metabolism and maximal aerobic capacity) and organ size and muscle enzymology (Kersten and Piersma, 1987;Daan et al., 1990;Piersma et al., 1996;Burness et al., 1998), and explore the role of central and peripheral organs in setting the limits to performance (e.g. Chappell et al., 1999;Hammond et al., 2000). These results can be used to predict what organs or organ systems are likely to be impacted by selection on whole-animal performance, or by acclimation, seasonal changes or other types of phenotypic plasticity. Of special interest in both mechanistic and We examined the mechanistic basis for two wholeanimal performance traits, aerobic capacity and burst speed, in six laboratory-reared Trinidadian guppy populations from different native drainages with contrasting levels of predation. Using within-and between-population variation, we tested whether variation in organs and organ systems (heart, gill and swimming motor mass) and the activities of several enzymes that support locomotion (citrate synthetase, lactate dehydrogenase and myofibrillar ATPase) are correlated with aerobic performance (maximum rates of oxygen consumption, VO∑max) or burst performance (maximum swim speed during escape responses). We also tested for associations between physiological traits and habitat type (different drainages and predation levels).Organ size and enzyme activities showed substantial size-independent variation, and both performance measures were strongly correlated to body size. After accounting for size effects, neither burst nor aerobic performance was strongly correlated to any organ size or enzymatic variable, or to each other. Two principal components (PCI, PC2) in both males and females accounted for most of the variance in the organ size and enzymatic variables. In both sexes, heart and gill mass tended to covary and were negatively associated with citrate synthetase and lactate dehydrogenase activity. In males (but not females), variation in aerobic performance was weakly but significantly correlated to variation in PC1, suggesting that heart and gill mass scale positively with V O∑max. Neither of the component variables and no single morphological or enzymatic trait was ...

Correlates of prolonged swimming performance in F2 hybrids of migratory and non-migratory threespine stickleback ecotypes

“…Kolok, 1992;Kolok and Farrell, 1994;Garenc et al, 1999;Gibb and Dickson, 2002;Odell et al, 2003;Claireaux et al, 2005). For example, intraindividual variation in V O2,max in Trinidadian guppies (Poecilia reticulata) was not significantly correlated with any of the six measured candidate traits (swimming muscle, heart and gill size and muscle CS, LDH and myofibrillar ATPase activities) after corrections for multiple comparisons (Odell et al, 2003).…”

“…Kolok, 1992;Kolok and Farrell, 1994;Garenc et al, 1999;Gibb and Dickson, 2002;Odell et al, 2003;Claireaux et al, 2005). For example, intraindividual variation in V O2,max in Trinidadian guppies (Poecilia reticulata) was not significantly correlated with any of the six measured candidate traits (swimming muscle, heart and gill size and muscle CS, LDH and myofibrillar ATPase activities) after corrections for multiple comparisons (Odell et al, 2003). Gibb and Dickson (Gibb and Dickson, 2002) found that muscle aerobic enzyme activities (red muscle, white muscle and heart CS activity, red muscle and heart 3-hydroxy-o-acylCoA dehydrogenase activity and myoglobin content) were not significantly correlated with swimming performance in two scombrid fishes [(kawakawa tuna (Euthynnus affinis) and chub mackerel (Scomber japonicus)].…”

Relationships among running performance, aerobic physiology and organ mass in male Mongolian gerbils

“…A number of such studies (e.g. Garland, 1984;Garland and Else, 1987;Gleeson and Harrison, 1988;Chappell and Bachman, 1995;Hammond et al, 2000;Sinervo et al, 2000;Harris and Steudel, 2002;Odell et al, 2003;Pasi and Carrier, 2003;Brandt and Allen, 2004;Kemp et al, 2005) have found an assortment of within-species associations between traits, but the combined results reveal surprisingly few consistent overall patterns (see Discussion).…”

Mechanisms underlying parallel reductions in aerobic capacity in non-migratory threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) populations

“…Henderson et al, 2002;Howlett et al, 2009;Kirkton et al, 2009;Gębczynski and Konarzewski, 2011). However, little is known about how maximum aerobic performance and underlying traits have evolved among natural populations that experience more complex selective environments, relative to experimental evolution studies, with multiple divergent and concurrently acting sources of selection (but see Odell et al, 2003). Determining which step(s) underlie differences in M O2,max among natural populations can provide mechanistic information about the traits limiting M O2,max in a particular species, provide insight into the costs of having a high M O2,max , and establish the pace at which this ecologically relevant trait evolves in the wild.…”