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Am Nat

Title:		Predation effects on the evolution of life-history traits in a clonal oligochaete
Author(s):		Kaliszewicz A; Johst K; Grimm V; Uchmanski J;
Address:		"Centre for Ecological Research, Polish Academy of Sciences, 05-092 Lomianki, Poland. a.kaliszewicz@cbe-pan.pl"
Journal Title:		Am Nat
Year:		2005
Volume:		20050728
Issue:		3
Page Number:		409 - 417
DOI:		10.1086/432037
ISSN/ISBN:		1537-5323 (Electronic) 0003-0147 (Linking)
Abstract:		"Although size at maturity and size and number of offspring are life-history traits widely studied in sexual and parthenogenetic reproduction, there is no such research on animals reproducing asexually without the involvement of gametes. Here we present an individual-based model in combination with experiments to study the clonal growth of Stylaria lacustris, an oligochaete reproducing through fission. We studied the effect of individual size at fission and fission ratio on clone fitness. Our results show that in benign environments without predators, fitness is higher when small worms produce small offspring. Then we included size-specific sublethal predation and found that the fitness of the clone is maximized when parental worms start fission at a large size and produce large descendants intercalated in the middle of the parental worm's body. These results agree with empirical findings. Furthermore, the results of our own laboratory experiment revealed that when S. lacustris is exposed to chemical alarm signals from injured conspecifics, it alters its life history in the same direction as predicted by the model. Our findings suggest that the effect of size-specific sublethal predation is similar to the effect of size-specific lethal predation because both modes of predation result in size-dependent prey mortality"
Keywords:		"Animals Biological Evolution Biometry *Models, Biological Oligochaeta/anatomy & histology/*physiology Pheromones/physiology *Predatory Behavior Reproduction, Asexual/physiology;"
Notes:		"MedlineKaliszewicz, Anita Johst, Karin Grimm, Volker Uchmanski, Janusz eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't 2005/10/15 Am Nat. 2005 Sep; 166(3):409-17. doi: 10.1086/432037. Epub 2005 Jul 28"