developmental plasticity
- Consequences of rapid development owing to cohort splitting: just how costly is it to hurry?
Summary: We provide a robust empirical contribution to the understanding of individual-level consequences of developmental plasticity leading to cohort splitting, and highlight its importance in shaping key life history traits.
- Maternal glucocorticoids promote offspring growth without inducing oxidative stress or shortening telomeres in wild red squirrels
Summary: Experimental increases in glucocorticoids in breeding female North American red squirrels affects offspring postnatal growth but not levels of oxidative damage and antioxidants or telomere lengths.
- Developmental effects of heatwave conditions on the early life stages of a coral reef fish
Summary: Juvenile damselfish exposed in early life to a sufficient duration of heatwave conditions are smaller in size but have better predator-escape performance.
- Reproductive fitness of Drosophila is maximised by optimal developmental temperature
Summary: Developmental acclimation does not necessarily enhance reproductive fitness in Drosophila melanogaster; instead, the highest fitness is achieved by development at an optimal temperature.
- Developmental phenotypic plasticity helps bridge stochastic weather events associated with climate change
Summary: Unpredictable environmental phenomena associated with climate change can be challenging to developing organisms, but developmental phenotypic plasticity may be key to their survival.
- Metabolome dynamics of diapause in the butterfly Pieris napi: distinguishing maintenance, termination and post-diapause phases
Highlighted Article: Diapause in a temperate butterfly is associated with a highly dynamic metabolome, and its termination, once initiated by cold, is associated with temperature-independent changes in profiles of several key metabolites.
- Hotter nests produce hatchling lizards with lower thermal tolerance
Highlighted Article: Gecko embryos that experience high temperatures during incubation produce hatchlings with lower thermal tolerance, suggesting that lizards may have limited capacity to adapt to higher nest temperatures.
- Maternal basking regime has complex implications for birthdate and offspring phenotype in a nocturnally foraging, viviparous gecko
Summary: Basking opportunity strongly affects maternal thermoregulation and gestation length in a ‘nocturnal’ gecko; spontaneously born offspring from a cool regime are small, but consistent phenotypic effects from delayed parturition are lacking.
- Fish embryos on land: terrestrial embryo deposition lowers oxygen uptake without altering growth or survival in the amphibious fish Kryptolebias marmoratus
Highlighted Article: Terrestrially reared embryos from the amphibious fish Kryptolebias marmoratus consume less oxygen and reach hatching competency with larger yolk reserves relative to embryos reared in water.
- Diverse dose–response effects of yolk androgens on embryo development and nestling growth in a wild passerine
Summary: Yolk androgens in wild passerines show complex dose–response effects during early development, including both linear and non-linear responses for different traits.