Transgenerational plasticity in a zooplankton in response to temperature
elevation and parasitism
Abstract
Organisms are increasingly facing multiple stressors, which can
simultaneously interact to cause unpredictable impacts compared to a
single stressor alone. Recent evidence suggests that phenotypic
plasticity can allow for rapid responses to altered environments,
including biotic and abiotic stressors, both within a generation and
across generations (transgenerational plasticity). Parents can
potentially ‘prime’ their offspring to better cope with similar
stressors, or, alternatively, might produce offspring that are less fit
because of energetic constraints. At present, it remains unclear exactly
how biotic and abiotic stressors jointly mediate the responses of
transgenerational plasticity, and whether this plasticity is adaptive.
Here we test the effects of biotic and abiotic environmental changes on
within- and trans-generational plasticity using a
Daphnia-Metschnikowia zooplankton-fungal parasite system. By
exposing parents and their offspring consecutively to the single and
combined effects of temperature elevation and parasite infection, we
showed that transgenerational plasticity induced by temperature and
parasite stress influenced host fecundity and lifespan; offspring of
mothers that were exposed to one of the stressors were better able to
tolerate temperature elevation, compared to offspring of mothers that
were exposed to neither or both stressors. Yet the negative effects
caused by parasite infection were much stronger, and this greater
reduction in host fitness was not mitigated by transgenerational
plasticity. We also showed that temperature elevation led to a lower
average immune response, but the nature of its relationship with
fecundity reversed under elevated temperatures; this suggests that
parents that were exposed to parasites can potentially prime their
offspring to respond to the joint stressors of both temperature
elevation and parasite infection. Together, our results highlight the
need to address questions at the interface of multiple stressors and
transgenerational plasticity, and the importance of considering multiple
fitness-associated traits when evaluating the adaptive value of
transgenerational plasticity under changing environments.