Stahlschmidt Z.R., Lourdais O., Lorioux S., Butler M.W., Davis J.R., Salin K., Voituron Y., Denardo D.F.
School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, United States; Centre d'Etudes Biologiques de Chizé, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Villiers-en-Bois 79360, France; Biology Department, Rhodes College, Memphis, TN 38112, United States; Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Villeurbanne 69100, France; Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS B3H 4R2, Canada; School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, United States; Biology Department, Lafayette College, Easton, PA 18042, United States; School of Letters and Sciences, Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ 85004, United States; Succulent Karoo Research Station, Springbok 8240, South Africa
Stahlschmidt, Z.R., School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, United States, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS B3H 4R2, Canada; Lourdais, O., Centre d'Etudes Biologiques de Chizé, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Villiers-en-Bois 79360, France; Lorioux, S., Centre d'Etudes Biologiques de Chizé, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Villiers-en-Bois 79360, France, School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, United States; Butler, M.W., School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, United States, Biology Department, Lafayette College, Easton, PA 18042, United States; Davis, J.R., Biology Department, Rhodes College, Memphis, TN 38112, United States, School of Letters and Sciences, Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ 85004, United States; Salin, K., Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Villeurbanne 69100, France, Succulent Karoo Research Station, Springbok 8240, South Africa; Voituron, Y., Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Villeurbanne 69100, France; Denardo, D.F., School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, United States
Current reproductive effort typically comes at a cost to future reproductive value by altering somatic function (e.g., growth or self-maintenance). Furthermore, effects of reproduction of ten depend on both fecundity and stage of reproduction, wherein allocation of resources into additional offspring and/ or stages of reproduction results in increased costs. Despite these widely accepted generalities, interindividual variation in the effects of reproduction is common-yet the proximate basis that allows some individuals to mitigate these detrimental effects is unclear. We serially measured several variables of morphology (e.g., musculature) and physiology (e.g., antioxidant defenses) in female Children's pythons (Antaresia childreni) throughout reproduction to examine how these traits change over the course of reproduction and whether certain physiological traits are associated with reduced effects of reproduction in some individuals. Reproduction in this capital breeder was associated with changes in both morphology and physiology, but only morphological changes varied with fecundity and among specific reproductive stages. During reproduction, we detected negative relationships between morphology and selfmaintenance (e.g., increased muscle allocation to reproduction was related to reduced immune function). Additionally, females that allocated resources more heavily into current reproduction also did so during future reproduction, and these females assimilated resources more efficiently, experienced reduced detriments to self-maintenance (e.g., lower levels of oxidative damage and glucocorticoids) during reproduction, and produced clutches with greater hatching success. Our results suggest that interindividual variation in specific aspects of physiology (assimilation efficiency and oxidative status) may drive variation in reproductive performance. © 2013 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved.