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Faster juvenile growth promotes earlier sex change in a protandrous hermaphrodite (barramundi Lates calcarifer)
The relationship between growth and sexual maturation is central to understanding the dynamics of animal populations which exhibit indeterminate growth. In sequential hermaphrodites, which undergo post-maturation sex change, the size and age at which sex change occurs directly affects reproductive o...
Autores principales: | , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Nature Publishing Group UK
2021
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7838401/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33500452 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-81727-1 |
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author | Roberts, Brien H. Morrongiello, John R. Morgan, David L. King, Alison J. Saunders, Thor M. Crook, David A. |
author_facet | Roberts, Brien H. Morrongiello, John R. Morgan, David L. King, Alison J. Saunders, Thor M. Crook, David A. |
author_sort | Roberts, Brien H. |
collection | PubMed |
description | The relationship between growth and sexual maturation is central to understanding the dynamics of animal populations which exhibit indeterminate growth. In sequential hermaphrodites, which undergo post-maturation sex change, the size and age at which sex change occurs directly affects reproductive output and hence population productivity. However, these traits are often labile, and may be strongly influenced by heterogenous growth and mortality rates. We analysed otolith microstructure of a protandrous (i.e., male-to-female) fish (barramundi Lates calcarifer) to examine growth in relation to individual variation in the timing of sex change. Growth trajectories of individuals with contrasting life histories were examined to elucidate the direction and extent to which growth rate influences the size and age individuals change sex. Then, the relationships between growth rate, maturation schedules and asymptotic maximum size were explored to identify potential trade-offs between age at female maturity and growth potential. Rapid growth was strongly associated with decreased age at sex change, but this was not accompanied by a decrease in size at sex change. Individuals that were caught as large females grew faster than those caught as males, suggesting that fast-growing individuals ultimately obtain higher fitness and therefore make a disproportionate contribution to population fecundity. These results indicate that individual-level variation in maturation schedules is not reflective of trade-offs between growth and reproduction. Rather, we suggest that conditions experienced during the juvenile phase are likely to be a key determinant of post-maturation fitness. These findings highlight the vulnerability of sex-changing species to future environmental change and harvest. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-7838401 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2021 |
publisher | Nature Publishing Group UK |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-78384012021-01-28 Faster juvenile growth promotes earlier sex change in a protandrous hermaphrodite (barramundi Lates calcarifer) Roberts, Brien H. Morrongiello, John R. Morgan, David L. King, Alison J. Saunders, Thor M. Crook, David A. Sci Rep Article The relationship between growth and sexual maturation is central to understanding the dynamics of animal populations which exhibit indeterminate growth. In sequential hermaphrodites, which undergo post-maturation sex change, the size and age at which sex change occurs directly affects reproductive output and hence population productivity. However, these traits are often labile, and may be strongly influenced by heterogenous growth and mortality rates. We analysed otolith microstructure of a protandrous (i.e., male-to-female) fish (barramundi Lates calcarifer) to examine growth in relation to individual variation in the timing of sex change. Growth trajectories of individuals with contrasting life histories were examined to elucidate the direction and extent to which growth rate influences the size and age individuals change sex. Then, the relationships between growth rate, maturation schedules and asymptotic maximum size were explored to identify potential trade-offs between age at female maturity and growth potential. Rapid growth was strongly associated with decreased age at sex change, but this was not accompanied by a decrease in size at sex change. Individuals that were caught as large females grew faster than those caught as males, suggesting that fast-growing individuals ultimately obtain higher fitness and therefore make a disproportionate contribution to population fecundity. These results indicate that individual-level variation in maturation schedules is not reflective of trade-offs between growth and reproduction. Rather, we suggest that conditions experienced during the juvenile phase are likely to be a key determinant of post-maturation fitness. These findings highlight the vulnerability of sex-changing species to future environmental change and harvest. Nature Publishing Group UK 2021-01-26 /pmc/articles/PMC7838401/ /pubmed/33500452 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-81727-1 Text en © The Author(s) 2021 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
spellingShingle | Article Roberts, Brien H. Morrongiello, John R. Morgan, David L. King, Alison J. Saunders, Thor M. Crook, David A. Faster juvenile growth promotes earlier sex change in a protandrous hermaphrodite (barramundi Lates calcarifer) |
title | Faster juvenile growth promotes earlier sex change in a protandrous hermaphrodite (barramundi Lates calcarifer) |
title_full | Faster juvenile growth promotes earlier sex change in a protandrous hermaphrodite (barramundi Lates calcarifer) |
title_fullStr | Faster juvenile growth promotes earlier sex change in a protandrous hermaphrodite (barramundi Lates calcarifer) |
title_full_unstemmed | Faster juvenile growth promotes earlier sex change in a protandrous hermaphrodite (barramundi Lates calcarifer) |
title_short | Faster juvenile growth promotes earlier sex change in a protandrous hermaphrodite (barramundi Lates calcarifer) |
title_sort | faster juvenile growth promotes earlier sex change in a protandrous hermaphrodite (barramundi lates calcarifer) |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7838401/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33500452 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-81727-1 |
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