Caballes CF et al. (2016), The Role of Maternal Nutrition on Oocyte Size a...

ECB-ART-44767

PLoS One 2016 Jun 21;116:e0158007. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0158007.

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The Role of Maternal Nutrition on Oocyte Size and Quality, with Respect to Early Larval Development in The Coral-Eating Starfish, Acanthaster planci.

Caballes CF , Pratchett MS , Kerr AM , Rivera-Posada JA .

Abstract
Variation in local environmental conditions can have pronounced effects on the population structure and dynamics of marine organisms. Previous studies on crown-of-thorns starfish, Acanthaster planci, have primarily focused on effects of water quality and nutrient availability on larval growth and survival, while the role of maternal nutrition on reproduction and larval development has been overlooked. To examine the effects of maternal nutrition on oocyte size and early larval development in A. planci, we pre-conditioned females for 60 days on alternative diets of preferred coral prey (Acropora abrotanoides) versus non-preferred coral prey (Porites rus) and compared resulting gametes and progeny to those produced by females that were starved over the same period. Females fed ad libitum with Acropora increased in weight, produced heavier gonads and produced larger oocytes compared to Porites-fed and starved females. Fed starfish (regardless of whether it was Acropora or Porites) produced bigger larvae with larger stomachs and had a higher frequency of normal larvae that reached the late bipinnaria / early brachiolaria stage compared to starved starfish. Females on Acropora diet also produced a higher proportion of larvae that progressed to more advanced stages faster compared to Porites-fed starfish, which progressed faster than starved starfish. These results suggest that maternal provisioning can have important consequences for the quality and quantity of progeny. Because food quality (coral community structure) and quantity (coral abundance) varies widely among reef locations and habitats, local variation in maternal nutrition of A. planci is likely to moderate reproductive success and may explain temporal and spatial fluctuations in abundance of this species.

PubMed ID: 27327627
PMC ID: PMC4915722
Article link: PLoS One

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References [+] :

Babcock, Sperm Diffusion Models and In Situ Confirmation of Long-Distance Fertilization in the Free-Spawning Asteroid Acanthaster planci. 1994, Pubmed, Echinobase

	Fig 1. Bipinnaria larva morphometrics.Image analysis measurements of length, width, and stomach area of four-day old larvae.
	Fig 2. Size and shape of oocytes from females under different maternal nutrition treatments.Plots show median (dashed line), 25th and 75th percentile range in the grey box, 5th and 95th percentile range as error bars, and outliers as solid circles for oocyte (A) maximum diameter, (B) volume, and (C) sphericity index (n = 100). Different letters are significantly different based on post hoc pairwise comparisons.
	Fig 3. Fertilization success across all females under each maternal nutrition treatment.Proportion of fertilized eggs calculated from the number of eggs with raised fertilization envelopes out of 100 randomly selected eggs (n = 3). Error bars represent +1 standard deviation (SD).
	Fig 4. Morphometrics of larvae from females under different nutritional treatments.Image analysis measurements of (A) length, (B) width, and (C) stomach area (n = 10). Error bars are + 1 SD and different letters are significantly different based on Tukey’s post hoc test.
	Fig 5. Daily survival rates of larvae reared for eight days.Data points are mean values ± 1SD of pooled proportions of surviving larvae from all females and rearing jars under each maternal nutrition treatment (n = 9).
	Fig 6. Proportion of (A) normal larvae and (B) late bipinnaria / early brachiolaria larvae at day eight. Error bars represent + 1SD and n = 9 for each maternal treatment. Different letters are significantly different based on Tukey’s post hoc tests.
	Fig 7. Proportion of larvae under 4 development categories: (1) early bipinnaria, (2) advanced bipinnaria, (3) late bipinnaria / early brachiolaria, and (–) abnormal larvae. Arrows and p-values represent post hoc G-test pairwise comparisons with Benjamini-Hochberg-corrected significance levels.