Timing of maternal exposure to toxic cyanobacteria and offspring fitness in Daphnia magna: Implications for the evolution of anticipatory maternal effects

Micro-injection as a tool to detect the effects of bisphenol A, diethyl phthalate, and 17ß-estradiol on ontogenesis of zebrafish (Danio rerio)

Diethyl phthalate (DEP), bisphenol A (BPA), and external estradiol 17β-estradiol (E2) all are endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs). Our previous study has found that the development of ceratohyal cartilage (CH) in embryos could be disrupted when the maternal generation was exposed with 8.06 μM DEP, 2.86 μM BPA, and 1.11 μM E2. However, it is still unknown how doses of the residual EDCs in eggs cause abnormal CH development in their offspring. Microinjection is used at the 2-cell stage of embryos to mimic the maternal effect and to observe the toxicities of EDCs in embryos. Results shown that the amounts of DEP, BPA, and E2 were 1.3 × 10-6 ng, 4.7 × 10-7 ng, and 1.4 × 10-7 ng, respectively, inducing the CH angles to become bigger than the control. However, related genes to the migratory pathways of neural crest cells (NCCs) were not influenced upon BPA and E2 treatments. Both sox10 and smad3 gene expressions were up-regulated upon DEP treatment. On the other hand, the CH angles were smaller than the control upon 1.3 × 10-5, 9.4 × 10-6, and 1.4 × 10-6 ng of DEP, BPA, and E2 microinjection, respectively. Furthermore, genes related to migratory NCCs were significantly influenced upon 10-5 ng of BPA, and 10-4 ng of DEP treatments on embryos. According to the data, we suggested that 10-5-10-7 ng of EDCs in eggs could disrupt CH development as well as significantly increase the mortality on their embryos. The present study raises concern that the responses were highly sensitive in embryos through maternal effects.

Transgenerational Effects of Atrazine on Daphnia magna Based on Life-History Traits and Population Dynamics

Atrazine is a predominant herbicide globally, and its residues are commonly found in natural water bodies due to its extensive use. Atrazine is known for its detrimental effects on the reproductive abilities of aquatic plants and animals. Our study explored the impact of maternal exposure to atrazine on the survival and performance of offspring using the water flea Daphnia magna as a model organism. We investigated how the life-history traits and population dynamics of maternal D. magna and their offspring are influenced by atrazine. We hypothesized that exposure to atrazine in mothers would negatively affect the survival and performance of their offspring. The findings revealed that short-term exposure to atrazine adversely affects fitness-related traits, manifesting as decreased survivorship and reduced fecundity. Offspring from atrazine-exposed mothers displayed a limited recovery in fitness; no mortality was observed during the 14-day experiment, yet fecundity remained significantly reduced. At the population level, maternal exposure to atrazine led to a decreased population carrying capacity. The notable maternal effects on offspring reproduction underscore the long-term toxicity of atrazine to D. magna populations, suggesting prolonged consequences even after the cessation of atrazine pollution. This study underscores the transgenerational effects of atrazine, highlighting its persistent threat to D. magna populations.

Timing-specific parental effects of ocean warming in a coral reef fish

Population and species persistence in a rapidly warming world will be determined by an organism's ability to acclimate to warmer conditions, especially across generations. There is potential for transgenerational acclimation but the importance of ontogenetic timing in the transmission of environmentally induced parental effects remains mostly unknown. We aimed to disentangle the effects of two critical ontogenetic stages (juvenile development and reproduction) to the new-generation acclimation potential, by exposing the spiny chromis damselfish Acanthochromis polyacanthus to simulated ocean warming across two generations. By using hepatic transcriptomics, we discovered that the post-hatching developmental environment of the offspring themselves had little effect on their acclimation potential at 2.5 months of life. Instead, the developmental experience of parents increased regulatory RNA production and protein synthesis, which could improve the offspring's response to warming. Conversely, parental reproduction and offspring embryogenesis in warmer water elicited stress response mechanisms in the offspring, with suppression of translation and mitochondrial respiration. Mismatches between parental developmental and reproductive temperatures deeply affected offspring gene expression profiles, and detrimental effects were evident when warming occurred both during parents' development and reproduction. This study reveals that the previous generation's developmental temperature contributes substantially to thermal acclimation potential during early life; however, exposure at reproduction as well as prolonged heat stress will likely have adverse effects on the species' persistence.

Are parental condition transfer effects more widespread than is currently appreciated?

It has long been recognized that the environment experienced by parents can influence the traits of offspring (i.e. 'parental effects'). Much research has explored whether mothers respond to predictable shifts in environmental signals by modifying offspring phenotypes to best match future conditions. Many organisms experience conditions that theory predicts should favor the evolution of such 'anticipatory parental effects', but such predictions have received limited empirical support. 'Condition transfer effects' are an alternative to anticipatory effects that occur when the environment experienced by parents during development influences offspring fitness. Condition transfer effects occur when parents that experience high-quality conditions produce offspring that exhibit higher fitness irrespective of the environmental conditions in the offspring generation. Condition transfer effects are not driven by external signals but are instead a byproduct of past environmental quality. They are also likely adaptive but have received far less attention than anticipatory effects. Here, we review the generality of condition transfer effects and show that they are much more widespread than is currently appreciated. Condition transfer effects are observed across taxa and are commonly associated with experimental manipulations of resource conditions experienced by parents. Our Review calls for increased research into condition transfer effects when considering the role of parental effects in ecology and evolution.

Experimental Studies on Zooplankton-Toxic Cyanobacteria Interactions: A Review

Cyanobacterial blooms have been recognized as a problem in fresh water for about 150 years. Over the past 50 years, experimental studies on the subject have gained importance considering the increasing need to control toxic cyanobacterial blooms. This article presents information on the different lines of research that have been undertaken on zooplankton-cyanobacteria interactions over the past 50 years. These include information on filtering/ingestion rates and phytoplankton preferences of small and large rotifers, cladocerans, and copepods; growth rates of zooplankton on cyanobacterial diets; feeding rates of other freshwater invertebrates on cyanobacteria; role of zooplankton in top-down biomanipulation efforts; effect of cyanotoxins on zooplankton; bioaccumulation of cyanotoxins; and physical and chemical control of cyanobacterial blooms. We also highlight measures that have led to successful lake management and improvement of water quality in selected waterbodies.

Negative Effects of Cyanotoxins and Adaptative Responses of Daphnia

The plethora of cyanobacterial toxins are an enormous threat to whole ecosystems and humans. Due to eutrophication and increases in lake temperatures from global warming, changes in the distribution of cyanobacterial toxins and selection of few highly toxic species/ strains are likely. Globally, one of the most important grazers that controls cyanobacterial blooms is Daphnia, a freshwater model organism in ecology and (eco)toxicology. Daphnia-cyanobacteria interactions have been studied extensively, often focusing on the interference of filamentous cyanobacteria with Daphnia's filtering apparatus, or on different nutritional constraints (the lack of essential amino acids or lipids) and grazer toxicity. For a long time, this toxicity only referred to microcystins. Currently, the focus shifts toward other deleterious cyanotoxins. Still, less than 10% of the total scientific output deals with cyanotoxins that are not microcystins; although these other cyanotoxins can occur just as frequently and at similar concentrations as microcystins in surface water. This review discusses the effects of different cyanobacterial toxins (hepatotoxins, digestive inhibitors, neurotoxins, and cytotoxins) on Daphnia and provides an elaborate and up-to-date overview of specific responses and adaptations of Daphnia. Furthermore, scenarios of what we can expect for the future of Daphnia-cyanobacteria interactions are described by comprising anthropogenic threats that might further increase toxin stress in Daphnia.

Ancestral environment determines the current reaction to ultraviolet radiation in Daphnia magna

An individual's phenotype can be altered by direct contact with its present environment but also by environmental features experienced by previous generations, that is, parental or grandparental effects. However, the strength and direction of these transgenerational effects may be highly variable according to the ecological conditions experienced by ancestral generations. Here, we performed a reciprocal split-brood experiment to compare transgenerational responses to the threat of ultraviolet radiation (UVR) in the zooplankter Daphnia magna, which had, or had not, been exposed to UVR for more than 150 generations. We found that the environment at which parents and grandparents were reared significantly influenced both behavior and life-history traits of their descendants. However, such transgenerational responses differed between D. magna individuals with contrasting ancestral stress history, that is, when exposed to UVR previously unexposed individuals rapidly changed their behavior and life-history traits, whereas individuals previously exposed to UVR showed less pronounced response when the UVR threat level relaxed. Hence, we here demonstrate an asymmetric transgenerational plasticity in response to UVR threat. The findings advance our understanding on the evolutionary ecology of such transgenerational effects and their potential role in response to changes in the local environment.

Food quantity and quality shapes reproductive strategies of Daphnia

In freshwater environments, one of the challenges aquatic grazers face are periods of suboptimal food quantity and quality. In a life table experiment, the effects of food quantity (a gradient of algae concentration) and quality (a diet of cyanobacteria) on the life histories and resource allocation strategy in Daphnia magna were tested. Growth-related traits were similarly affected under different food regimes while the reproductive strategies differed in animals exposed to low food quantity and quality. The per-clutch investment (clutch volume) did not differ between Daphnia fed with cyanobacteria and underfed mothers, but resources were differently allocated; underfed mothers increased their per-offspring investment by producing fewer, but larger eggs, whereas cyanobacteria-fed mothers invested in a greater number of eggs of smaller size. I argue that both strategies of resource allocation (number vs. size of eggs) may be adaptive under the given food regime. The results of the study show that the cyanobacteria diet-driven fitness losses are comparable to losses caused by food quantity, which is only slightly above the growth capability threshold for Daphnia.

Parents exposed to warming produce offspring lower in weight and condition

The parental environment can alter offspring phenotypes via the transfer of non-genetic information. Parental effects may be viewed as an extension of (within-generation) phenotypic plasticity. Smaller size, poorer physical condition, and skewed sex ratios are common responses of organisms to global warming, yet whether parental effects alleviate, exacerbate, or have no impact on these responses has not been widely tested. Further, the relative non-genetic influence of mothers and fathers and ontogenetic timing of parental exposure to warming on offspring phenotypes is poorly understood. Here, we tested how maternal, paternal, and biparental exposure of a coral reef fish (Acanthochromis polyacanthus) to elevated temperature (+1.5°C) at different ontogenetic stages (development vs reproduction) influences offspring length, weight, condition, and sex. Fish were reared across two generations in present-day and projected ocean warming in a full factorial design. As expected, offspring of parents exposed to present-day control temperature that were reared in warmer water were shorter than their siblings reared in control temperature; however, within-generation plasticity allowed maintenance of weight, resulting in a higher body condition. Parental exposure to warming, irrespective of ontogenetic timing and sex, resulted in decreased weight and condition in all offspring rearing temperatures. By contrast, offspring sex ratios were not strongly influenced by their rearing temperature or that of their parents. Together, our results reveal that phenotypic plasticity may help coral reef fishes maintain performance in a warm ocean within a generation, but could exacerbate the negative effects of warming between generations, regardless of when mothers and fathers are exposed to warming. Alternatively, the multigenerational impact on offspring weight and condition may be a necessary cost to adapt metabolism to increasing temperatures. This research highlights the importance of examining phenotypic plasticity within and between generations across a range of traits to accurately predict how organisms will respond to climate change.

Environmentally induced DNA methylation is inherited across generations in an aquatic keystone species

Transgenerational inheritance of environmentally induced epigenetic marks can have significant impacts on eco-evolutionary dynamics, but the phenomenon remains controversial in ecological model systems. We used whole-genome bisulfite sequencing of individual water fleas (Daphnia magna) to assess whether environmentally induced DNA methylation is transgenerationally inherited. Genetically identical females were exposed to one of three natural stressors, or a de-methylating drug, and their offspring were propagated clonally for four generations under control conditions. We identified between 70 and 225 differentially methylated CpG positions (DMPs) in F1 individuals whose mothers were exposed to a natural stressor. Roughly half of these environmentally induced DMPs persisted until generation F4. In contrast, treatment with the drug demonstrated that pervasive hypomethylation upon exposure is reset almost completely after one generation. These results suggest that environmentally induced DNA methylation is non-random and stably inherited across generations in Daphnia, making epigenetic inheritance a putative factor in the eco-evolutionary dynamics of freshwater communities.

Transgenerational plasticity in the eye size of Daphnia

It is well established that environmental signals can induce phenotypic responses that persist for multiple generations. The induction of such 'transgenerational plasticity' (TGP) depends upon the ability of organisms to accurately receive and process information from environmental signals. Thus, sensory systems are likely intertwined with TGP. Here we tested the link between an environmental stressor and transgenerational responses in a component of the sensory system (eye size) that is linked to enhanced vision and ecologically relevant behaviours. We reared 45 clones of Daphnia pulicaria in the presence and absence of a low-quality resource (cyanobacteria) and evaluated shifts in relative eye size in offspring. Our results revealed divergent shifts in relative eye size within- and across-generations. Parental Daphnia that were fed cyanobacteria produced a smaller eye than Daphnia fed high-quality algae. Such differences were then reversed in the offspring generation; Daphnia whose mothers were fed cyanobacteria produced larger eyes than Daphnia that were continually fed green algae. We discuss the extent to which this maternal effect on eye size is an adaptive response linked to improved foraging.

Daphnia's Adaptive Molecular Responses to the Cyanobacterial Neurotoxin Anatoxin-α Are Maternally Transferred

Cyanobacterial blooms are an omnipresent and well-known result of eutrophication and climate change in aquatic systems. Cyanobacteria produce a plethora of toxic secondary metabolites that affect humans, animals and ecosystems. Many cyanotoxins primarily affect the grazers of phytoplankton, e.g., Daphnia. The neurotoxin anatoxin-α has been reported world-wide; despite its potency, anatoxin-α and its effects on Daphnia have not been thoroughly investigated. Here, we investigated the effects of the anatoxin-α-producing Tychonema on life-history parameters and gene expression of nicotine-acetylcholine receptors (NAR), the direct targets of anatoxin-α, using several D. magna clones. We used juvenile somatic growth rates as a measure of fitness and analyzed gene expression by qPCR. Exposure to 100% Tychonema reduced the clones' growth rates and caused an up-regulation of NAR gene expression. When 50% of the food consisted of Tychonema, none of the clones were reduced in growth and only one of them showed an increase in NAR gene expression. We demonstrate that this increased NAR gene expression can be maternally transferred and that offspring from experienced mothers show a higher growth rate when treated with 50% Tychonema compared with control offspring. However, the addition of further (anthropogenic) stressors might impair Daphnia's adaptive responses to anatoxin-α. Especially the presence of certain pollutants (i.e., neonicotinoids), which also target NARs, might reduce Daphnia's capability to cope with anatoxin-α.

The Ecology of the Zebra Finch Makes It a Great Laboratory Model but an Outlier amongst Passerine Birds

Zebra Finches have become the most widely researched bird species outside of those used in agricultural production. Their adoption as the avian model of choice is largely down to a number of characteristics that make them easy to obtain and use in captivity. The main point of our paper is that the very characteristics that make the Zebra Finch a highly amenable laboratory model species mean that it is by definition different from many other passerine birds, and therefore not a good general model for many research areas. The Zebra Finch is likely to be particularly resilient to the effects of stress early in life, and is likely to show great flexibility in dealing with a wide variety of conditions later in life. Whilst it is tempting for researchers to turn to species such as the Zebra Finch, that can be the focus of manipulative work in the laboratory, we caution that the findings of such studies may confound our understanding of general avian biology. The Zebra Finch will remain an excellent species for laboratory work, and our paper should help to direct and interpret future work in the laboratory and the field.

Environmental disturbance history undermines population responses to cope with anthropogenic and environmental stressors

Since aquatic ecosystems receive runoff of most anthropogenic pollutants, risk assessment tools and protocols have been developed in order to protect them. However, most ecological risk assessments focus on the study of single species exposed to a single chemical, overlooking the environmental reality of multiple chemical exposures and stresses over generations. To advance in realistic predictions of population and community changes, the environmental disturbance history should be considered. The aim of this study was to evaluate how environmental disturbance history (continuous expected sublethal exposure to one chemical for several generations) determines populations' responses to another stressors. The experiments were performed with Daphnia magna as model organisms. To create a disturbance history, dimethoate was used as first stressor at two different concentrations: medium (0.089 mg·L-1) and high (0.89 mg·L-1). The population exposed to medium concentration ("vulnerable population") showed no differences from the control population in the selected parameters (body size and reproductive success). Our interest in the vulnerable population was to determine whether, after a first stressor, the detected non-effect hides a population impairment, which might undermine populations' responses to future stressors. After 4 generations under dimethoate exposure, the vulnerable D. magna population was exposed to a second chemical stressor (glyphosate) and an environmental stressor (food scarcity) as compared to control. The vulnerable population showed both less resistance to glyphosate and less resistance to starvation, corroborating the hypothesis that a disturbance history of continuous expected sublethal chemical exposures undermines populations' responses to further chemical and environmental stressors.

Transgenerational plasticity mediates temperature effects on fitness in the water flea Daphnia magna

Phenotypic plasticity is an important way by which organisms respond to changes in their local environment, but it is not clear whether parents can buffer the negative impacts of high temperature on offspring fitness. To investigate this question, we exposed the water flea Daphnia magna Straus, 1820 and their offspring to either low (15 °C) or high (25 °C) temperature in a crossed factorial design. High parental temperature reduced the age and size at reproductive maturation and resulted in smaller mean clutch size, regardless of offspring temperature. This suggests that parents did not buffer the effects of high temperature on their offspring. However, offspring raised at high temperature that came from parents also raised at high temperature had similar adult body size and longer lifespan than offspring produced by parents exposed to low temperature. As a consequence of these apparent trade-offs, there was no detectable effect of parental temperature on offspring lifetime reproductive success. These results suggest that although transgenerational plasticity could help organisms to cope with stressful changes in their local environment, such effects might be difficult to detect in natural populations due to associated life-history trade-offs.

The jury is still out regarding the generality of adaptive 'transgenerational' effects

A recent meta-analysis concluded, 'transgenerational effects are widespread, strong and persistent'. We identify biases in the literature search, data and analyses, questioning that conclusion. Re-analyses indicate few studies actually tested transgenerational effects - making it challenging to disentangle condition-transfer from anticipatory parental effects, and providing little insight into the underlying mechanisms.