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Continuous growth facilitates feeding and reproduction: impact of size on energy allocation patterns for organisms with indeterminate growth

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Abstract

Body size has great influence on feeding, reproduction, and ecological importance. This study measures growth, reproduction, and feeding for several northeastern Pacific intertidal invertebrates that have indeterminate growth. In all species studied, linear size (length, diameter) showed asymptotic growth fit by the von Bertalanffy growth function, supporting the notion that less energy is allocated to growth with age because of increased reproduction. However, these same species displayed a continuous, roughly linear increase in volume with age. Both reproductive output and food intake were shown to scale proportionally with volume. This indicates that some species with indeterminate growth do not reduce energy allocation to growth with age but instead display continuous volumetric growth that facilitates increases in feeding rate and reproductive output with age and size. A simple allometric model is proposed to describe constant volumetric growth rates and linear increases in reproduction with age.

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Acknowledgments

Thanks to Jessie McGrath for her help conducting C. funebralis feeding experiments and Cynthia Trowbridge for suggestions on presentation of the data and format of the manuscript. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0638731, 2009–2010, PIs Alan Shanks and Jan Hodder. Collections were made with Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife collecting permit #15387.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Connecticut Avery Point, 1080 Shennecossett Rd, Groton, CT, 06340, USA

    Joshua P. Lord

  2. Oregon Institute of Marine Biology, PO Box 5389, Charleston, OR, 97420, USA

    Alan L. Shanks

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  1. Joshua P. Lord
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Correspondence to Joshua P. Lord.

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Communicated by S. Connell.

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Lord, J.P., Shanks, A.L. Continuous growth facilitates feeding and reproduction: impact of size on energy allocation patterns for organisms with indeterminate growth. Mar Biol 159, 1417–1428 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-012-1918-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-012-1918-5

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