10.5061/DRYAD.2K11F
Lippens, Cédric
Faivre, Bruno
Lechenault, Clothilde
Sorci, Gabriele
French National Centre for Scientific Research
Data from: Aging parasites produce offspring with poor fitness prospects
Dryad
dataset
2017
Parental age
Heligmosomoides polygyrus
offspring fitness
2017-01-27T13:41:32Z
2017-01-27T13:41:32Z
en
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2016.0888
12157 bytes
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CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
Senescing individuals have poor survival prospects and low fecundity. They
can also produce offspring with reduced survival and reproductive success.
We tested the effect of parental age on the performance of descendants in
the nematode Heligmosomoides polygyrus, an intestinal parasite of rodents.
We found that offspring of senescing worms had reduced within-host
survival and reduced egg shedding over the first month post-infection
compared with offspring produced by young parents. These results suggest
that declining offspring quality is a component of senescence in parasitic
nematodes and might have evolutionary consequences for the optimal
schedule of age-dependent investment into reproductive effort.
dryad_data