Abstract
Contrary to many separate sex systems, the evolutionary ecology of polyandry in simultaneous hermaphrodites, and in particular in those with internal fertilization, has received little attention. Recent studies on the promiscuous gastropod Chelidonura sandrana showed that offspring size, an important determinant of offspring performance in many marine invertebrates, varies with the number of different mating partners. However, the source of this differential allocation by mothers remained unclear. Using a quantitative genetic model, we here tested for parental effects on offspring size and the importance of ‘good gene’ effects on early life history traits. Our analysis revealed no significant sire but strong dam effects for all investigated traits. Moreover, embryo viability tended to increase with egg capsule volume, thus linking offspring size with offspring performance. Our findings suggest that in C. sandrana (1) differential allocation is a maternal effect in response to the number of different partners, and that (2) additive genetic variance is of negligible importance in early life history traits.
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Acknowledgments
We thank Philippe Jarne, Hinrich Schulenburg, Kurt Jordaens and one anonymous referee for valuable comments on earlier drafts of this manuscript. We also thank the staff of Lizard Island Research Station for logistical support throughout this study. This work was funded by grants of the German Science Foundation (DFG) to N.K.M. and N.A. (DFG Mi 482/7-3 and Mi 482/7-4).
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Sprenger, D., Lange, R., Michiels, N.K. et al. Sources of phenotypic variance in egg and larval traits in a marine invertebrate. Evol Ecol 24, 185–194 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10682-009-9300-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10682-009-9300-x