Evol Ecol Res 10: 1067-1075 (2008)     Full PDF if your library subscribes.

Phenotypic correlations reveal evidence for growth costs but not survival costs of reproduction in a freshwater snail

Amy C. Krist

Department of Biology, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Eau Claire, Wisconsin, USA

Correspondence: A.C. Krist, Department of Zoology and Physiology, Program in Ecology, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071, USA.
e-mail: krist@uwyo.edu

ABSTRACT

Question: Do populations of freshwater snails experience trade-offs between reproduction and either growth or survival? Trade-offs among these traits is the most likely explanation for results from a related study.

Data studied: Growth rates, reproductive output, and survival in snails from 12 populations that were raised from eggs in the laboratory.

Search method: I examined correlations between reproductive output and growth and reproductive output and survival.

Conclusions: Trade-offs between reproductive output and growth were observed in laboratory conditions. However, trade-offs between reproduction and survival were not evident in laboratory conditions and, surprisingly, I found a positive relationship between reproductive output and maximum observed age. In the related study, selection for increased reproductive output may have been constrained by the negative relationship between reproduction and growth.

Keywords: cost of reproduction, genotype × environment interaction, life-history traits, phenotypic correlation, trade-offs.

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