The influence of Per Offspring Investment (POI) and starvation on larval developmental plasticity within the palaemonid shrimp, Palaemonetes varians

Oliphant, Andrew and Ichino, Matteo I. (2014) The influence of Per Offspring Investment (POI) and starvation on larval developmental plasticity within the palaemonid shrimp, Palaemonetes varians. Marine Biology, 161, 2069-2077. (doi:10.1007/s00227-014-2486-7).

Abstract

At the inter-specific level, per offspring investment (POI), degree of abbreviated development, and lecithotrophic potential all increase with increasing latitude and freshwater penetration among crustaceans. These traits are considered adaptations to conditions of decreasing growth potential. We hypothesis that the relationship between POI and abbreviated development also occurs at the intra-specific level. We studied the caridean shrimp, Palaemonetes varians, to investigate the hypothesis that under food-limited conditions, higher POI enables development through fewer larval instars. Larvae from broods of greater POI (measured as hatchling dry weight, W, and categorised as ‘small’, ‘medium’, or ‘large’) generally developed through fewer larval instars. With increasing starvation period, larval development time increased and larval growth rate, juvenile W, juvenile carbon mass, and juvenile C:N ratio all decreased. Larval development time decreased with increasing larval W category. In contrast larval growth rate, juvenile W, juvenile carbon mass, and juvenile C:N ratio all increased with increasing larval W categorys. There were no interactions between starvation treatment and larval W category for any larval or juvenile trait, except larval development time. These results are consistent with the relationship between POI and larval instar number (abbreviation of development) at the inter-specific level and support the concept that macro-ecological trends in development modes at the inter-specific level may be driven by selection occurring on POI at the intra-specific level.

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