Document Type

Honors Thesis

Abstract

Transgenerational plasticity refers to heritable, non-genetic changes in phenotype that persist across multiple generations and can enhance offspring survivability in variable environments. In Daphnia, increasing maternal age has been associated with maladaptive plasticity. To investigate this relationship, six clones were collected from two Wisconsin lakes and acclimated to laboratory conditions through a common garden rearing process. For each clone, ten replicates were generated and evenly divided between young (clutches 2–4) and old (clutches 5–8) maternal age groups. Offspring were exposed to three dietary treatments for three experimental generations: one fed only green algae, one fed only cyanobacteria (a nutritionally limiting food source), and a third fed cyanobacteria in the first generation, followed by green algae in subsequent generations. Body size, absolute eye size, and relative eye size were measured as proxies for fitness and plasticity and analyzed using linear mixed models. As expected, offspring of younger mothers initially exhibited greater fitness. However, in both the mixed treatment and continual cyanobacterial treatment, offspring of older mothers outperformed those of younger mothers, suggesting a potential compensatory transgenerational response from older Daphnia mothers to initial environmental stress.

Disciplines

Biostatistics | Developmental Biology | Ecology and Evolutionary Biology | Organismal Biological Physiology | Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology | Zoology

Publication Date

5-2025

Language

English

Faculty Mentor of Honors Project

Matthew Walsh

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