10.5061/DRYAD.8GTHT76R8
Lemmen, Kimberley
0000-0002-2100-5420
Netherlands Institute of Ecology
Zhou, Libin
Netherlands Institute of Ecology
Papakostas, Spiros
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Declerck, Steven
0000-0001-6179-667X
Netherlands Institute of Ecology
An experimental test of the Growth Rate Hypothesis as a predictive
framework for microevolutionary adaptation
Dryad
dataset
2022
FOS: Natural sciences
ecological stoichiometry
phosphorus limitation
Experimental Evolution
Rapid adaptation
Brachionus calyciflorus
Contemporary Evolution
Dutch Research Council
https://ror.org/04jsz6e67
823.01.011
2022-07-05T00:00:00Z
2022-07-05T00:00:00Z
en
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6341155
https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.06.14.150649
100253 bytes
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CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
The growth rate hypothesis (GRH), a central concept of ecological
stoichiometry, posits that the relative body phosphorus content of an
organism is positively related to somatic growth rate as protein
synthesis, which is necessary for growth, requires P-rich rRNA and has
strong support at the interspecific level. Here, we explore the use of the
GRH to predict microevolutionary responses in consumer body stoichiometry.
For this, we subjected zooplankton populations to selection for fast
population growth (PGR) in P-rich (HPF) and P-poor (LPF) food
environments. With common garden transplant experiments, we demonstrate
that in HP populations evolution towards increased PGR was concomitant
with an increase in relative phosphorus content. In contrast, LP
populations evolved higher PGR without an increase in relative phosphorus
content. We conclude that the GRH has the potential to predict
microevolutionary change, but that its application is contingent on the
environmental context. Our results highlight the potential of cryptic
evolution in determining the performance response of populations to
elemental limitation of their food resources.
This study consists of 4 seperate experiments 1. Evolution experiment:
Fourteen replicate populations with identical genetic composition, were
exposed to culturing conditions that selected for fast clonal population
growth, seven of the populations were allocated to a P-rich (HPF) and the
other seven populations to a P-poor (LPF) diet. Every 24 hours we
transferred 60 haphazardly selected individuals and all resting eggs from
each population to a new culturing flask with a fresh food
suspension. After the daily transfer, we counted the remaining individuals
to calucate population growth rates. 2. Common garden one: Using the
populations from the evolution experiment we performed fully reciprocal
common garden experiment to test for genetic adaptation to selection for
fast growth in the two food quality treatments. Every 24 hours we
transferred 10 haphazardly chosen individuals from each experimental unit
into a fresh algal suspension. We counted the remaining animals to
estimate PGR. We preserved the remaining individuals to estimate
demographic composition. 3. Common garden two: Using the populations from
the evolution experiment we performed large scacle fully reciprocal common
garden experiment to evaluate the effect of selection history on
organismal carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) content. We
determined rotifer C and N contents using a FLASH 2000 organic element
analyzer (Interscience B.V., Breda, Netherlands), and P content with a
QuAAtro segmented flow autoanalyzer (Beun de Ronde, Abcoude, Netherlands).
For each of these analyses we used a sample of 100 individuals with a
single parthenogenetic egg. 4. Life History Experiment in LP Food: Using
the populations from the evolution experiment conducted a life history
experiment in low-P food with the populations. During the life table 15-18
individuals from each population were monitored every two hours from birth
until the production of the first juvenile or until confirmed as carrying
a sexual egg. All raw data is provided please see associated analytical
code for data processing.