Density, parasitism, and sexual reproduction are strongly correlated in lake Daphnia populations

Camden D. Gowler, Mary A. Rogalski, Clara L. Shaw, Katherine K. Hunsberger, Meghan A. Duffy

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

7 Scopus citations

Abstract

Many organisms can reproduce both asexually and sexually. For cyclical parthenogens, periods of asexual reproduction are punctuated by bouts of sexual reproduction, and the shift from asexual to sexual reproduction has large impacts on fitness and population dynamics. We studied populations of Daphnia dentifera to determine the amount of investment in sexual reproduction as well as the factors associated with variation in investment in sex. To do so, we tracked host density, infections by nine different parasites, and sexual reproduction in 15 lake populations of D. dentifera for 3 years. Sexual reproduction was seasonal, with male and ephippial female production beginning as early as late September and generally increasing through November. However, there was substantial variation in the prevalence of sexual individuals across populations, with some populations remaining entirely asexual throughout the study period and others shifting almost entirely to sexual females and males. We found strong relationships between density, prevalence of infection, parasite species richness, and sexual reproduction in these populations. However, strong collinearity between density, parasitism, and sexual reproduction means that further work will be required to disentangle the causal mechanisms underlying these relationships.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)10446-10456
Number of pages11
JournalEcology and Evolution
Volume11
Issue number15
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 2021
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We are extremely grateful to Rebecca Bilich for her assistance with field sampling and to Curt Lively, Piet Spaak, and an anonymous reviewer for feedback on an earlier version of this manuscript. This work was supported by NSF grant DEB‐1305836 to MAD and by the Moore Foundation (GBMF9202; DOI: https://doi.org/10.37807/GBMF9202 ).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Keywords

  • density
  • ephippia
  • multiparasite
  • parasitism
  • pathogens
  • phenology
  • Red Queen

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