Bednarska Anna
Department of Hydrobiology, Institute of Functional Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Biology University of Warsaw Warsaw Poland.
Ecol Evol. 2022 Aug 1;12(8):e9163. doi: 10.1002/ece3.9163. eCollection 2022 Aug.
In freshwater environments, one of the challenges aquatic grazers face are periods of suboptimal food quantity and quality. In a life table experiment, the effects of food quantity (a gradient of algae concentration) and quality (a diet of cyanobacteria) on the life histories and resource allocation strategy in were tested. Growth-related traits were similarly affected under different food regimes while the reproductive strategies differed in animals exposed to low food quantity and quality. The per-clutch investment (clutch volume) did not differ between fed with cyanobacteria and underfed mothers, but resources were differently allocated; underfed mothers increased their per-offspring investment by producing fewer, but larger eggs, whereas cyanobacteria-fed mothers invested in a greater number of eggs of smaller size. I argue that both strategies of resource allocation (number vs. size of eggs) may be adaptive under the given food regime. The results of the study show that the cyanobacteria diet-driven fitness losses are comparable to losses caused by food quantity, which is only slightly above the growth capability threshold for .
在淡水环境中，水生食草动物面临的挑战之一是食物数量和质量欠佳的时期。在一项生命表实验中，测试了食物数量（藻类浓度梯度）和质量（蓝细菌饮食）对[具体物种]生命史和资源分配策略的影响。在不同食物条件下，与生长相关的性状受到类似影响，而在食物数量和质量较低的动物中，生殖策略有所不同。喂食蓝细菌的[具体物种]和食物不足的母亲的每窝投资（窝体积）没有差异，但资源分配不同；食物不足的母亲通过产下数量较少但个头较大的卵来增加其对每个后代的投资，而喂食蓝细菌的母亲则投资于数量较多但个头较小的卵。我认为，在给定的食物条件下，两种资源分配策略（卵的数量与大小）都可能是适应性的。研究结果表明，蓝细菌饮食导致的适合度损失与食物数量造成的损失相当，而食物数量仅略高于[具体物种]的生长能力阈值。
