Quantitative Matching of Clutch Size in Reciprocating Hermaphroditic Worms

Picchi, Laura; Cabanès, Guénaël; Ricci-Bonot, Claire; Lorenzi, María Cristina

doi:10.1016/j.cub.2018.08.013

Cited by 9 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…Once donation had started, worms donated proportionally more eggs to partners who donated more eggs; expectedly, the size of egg donation was also a function of their body size (GLMM, β [eggs donated by partners] = 0.260 ± 0.124, χ 2 = 4.418, df = 1, P = 0.036; β [body size] = 0.337 ± 0.154, χ 2 = 4.781, df = 1, P = 0.029), confirming previous findings 36 .…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 86%

“…If the alternation between sexual roles is contingent on the partner’s behavior (i.e., partner returns the donation received previously), one of the requisites for conditional reciprocity is fulfilled 1 , 2 . In hermaphroditic worms, experimental data and agent-based simulations do support this hypothesis; hermaphroditic worms take turns donating eggs to partners that have previously donated egg clutches 36 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…Each worm lays an egg clutch every fourth day 34 , 36 and up to 12–18 clutches during the first two months of its reproductive life 43 . Producing eggs typically requires a larger investment than producing sperm 44 – 46 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the reciprocity vocabulary, donating eggs is the cooperative move; refraining from doing so—i.e., doing nothing 15 —is defecting. When a worm donates a clutch of eggs to its partner, it will get eggs back to fertilize after a typical delay of two days 34 , 36 . Therefore, the time lag between two successive matings makes egg return uncertain and the evaluation of partner propensity to reciprocate eggs is accordingly crucial.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…If reciprocity explains mutual egg exchange in paired hermaphrodites (including conditioning egg release to egg release by the partner and matching partner’s clutch size, see 36 ), we expect that worms are reluctant to start reciprocal egg exchanges with poor quality partners. Clutch size positively correlates with body size 36 , 41 and large partners are usually preferred to small ones 34 ; therefore, we used body size as a measure of partner quality. We tested the reciprocity-based hypothesis against the alternative hypothesis that mutual egg exchanges are explained in terms of pseudo-reciprocity, whereby egg donation is primarily beneficial to the egg-releasing worms and only incidentally to their partners.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Egg-trading worms start reciprocation with caution, respond with confidence and care about partners’ quality

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et al. 2021

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Conditional reciprocity (help someone who helped you before) explains the evolution of cooperation among unrelated individuals who take turns helping each other. Reciprocity is vulnerable to exploitations, and players are expected to identify uncooperative partners who do not return the help they received. We tested this prediction in the simultaneously hermaphroditic worm, Ophryotrocha diadema, which engages in mutual egg donations by alternating sexual roles (one worm releases’ eggs and the other fertilizes them). We set up dyads with different cooperativeness expectations; partners were either the same or a different body size (body size predicts clutch size). Large worms offered larger clutches and did so sooner when paired with large rather than small partners. They also released smaller egg clutches when they started egg donations than when they responded to a partners’ donation, fulfilling the prediction that a players’ first move will be prudent. Finally, behavioral bodily interactions were more frequent between more size-dissimilar worms, suggesting that worms engaged in low-cost behavioral exchanges before investing in such costly moves as egg donations. These results support the hypothesis that simultaneously hermaphroditic worms follow a conditional reciprocity paradigm and solve the conflict over sexual roles by sharing the costs of reproduction via the male and the female functions.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 86%