Warming and predation risk only weakly shape size-mediated priority effects in a cannibalistic damselfly

Abstract

Differences in hatching dates can shape intraspecific interactions through size-mediated priority effects (SMPE), a phenomenon where bigger, early hatched individuals gain advantage over smaller, late hatched ones. However, it remains unclear to what extent and how SMPE are affected by key environmental factors such as warming and predation risk imposed by top predators. We studied effects of warming (low and high temperature) and predation risk (presence and absence of predator cues of perch) on SMPE in life history and physiological traits in the cannibalistic damselfly Ischnura elegans. We induced SMPE in the laboratory by manipulating hatching dates, creating following groups: early and late hatchlings reared in separate containers, and mixed phenology groups where early and late hatchlings shared the same containers. We found strong SMPE for survival and emergence success, with the highest values in early larvae of mixed phenology groups and the lowest values in late larvae of mixed phenology groups. Neither temperature nor predator cues affected SMPE for these two traits. The other life history traits (development rate and mass at emergence) did not show SMPE, but were affected by temperature and predator cues. A tendency for SMPE was found for protein content, in the high temperature treatment. The other physiological traits (phenoloxidase activity and fat content) showed fixed expressions across treatments, indicating decoupling between physiology and life history. The results underline that SMPEs are trait-dependent, and only weakly or not affected by temperature and predation risk.