Temperature-size responses during ontogeny are independent of progenitors’ thermal environments

Martínez De León, Gerard; Fahrni, Micha; Thakur, Madhav P. (2024). Temperature-size responses during ontogeny are independent of progenitors’ thermal environments. PeerJ, 12 PeerJ, Ltd 10.7717/peerj.17432

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Background: Warming generally induces faster developmental and growth rates,
resulting in smaller asymptotic sizes of adults in warmer environments (a pattern
known as the temperature-size rule). However, whether temperature-size responses
are affected across generations, especially when thermal environments differ from
one generation to the next, is unclear. Here, we tested temperature-size responses at
different ontogenetic stages and in two consecutive generations using two soil-living
Collembola species from the family Isotomidae: Folsomia candida (asexual) and
Proisotoma minuta (sexually reproducing).
Methods: We used individuals (progenitors; F0) from cultures maintained during several generations at 15 °C or 20 °C, and exposed their offspring in cohorts (F1) to various thermal environments (15 °C, 20 °C, 25 °C and 30 °C) during their ontogenetic development (from egg laying to first reproduction; i.e., maturity).
We measured development and size traits in the cohorts (egg diameter and body
length at maturity), as well as the egg diameters of their progeny (F2). We predicted
that temperature-size responses would be predominantly determined by
within-generation plasticity, given the quick responsiveness of growth and
developmental rates to changing thermal environments. However, we also expected
that mismatches in thermal environments across generations would constrain
temperature-size responses in offspring, possibly due to transgenerational plasticity.
Results: We found that temperature-size responses were generally weak in the two
Collembola species, both for within- and transgenerational plasticity. However, egg
and juvenile development were especially responsive at higher temperatures and
were slightly affected by transgenerational plasticity. Interestingly, plastic responses
among traits varied non-consistently in both Collembola species, with some traits
showing plastic responses in one species but not in the other and vice versa.
Therefore, our results do not support the view that the mode of reproduction can be
used to explain the degree of phenotypic plasticity at the species level, at least between
the two Collembola species used in our study. Our findings provide evidence for a
general reset of temperature-size responses at the start of each generation and
highlight the importance of measuring multiple traits across ontogenetic stages to
fully understand species’ thermal responses.

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