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Life-history responses of salinity-tolerant and salinity-sensitive lineages of a stenohaline cladoceran do not confirm clonal differentiation

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Abstract

The adaptability of freshwater organisms to brackish conditions is important to understand the resilience of freshwaters to saline intrusion, a phenomenon that may affect vulnerable freshwater habitats. Bearing this in mind, this study intended to assess if there are genetically determined differences in the tolerance of stenohaline cladocerans in 21-day exposure scenarios to sodium chloride (NaCl, as a proxy for salinity). The objective was to compare the reproductive output of salinity-tolerant (brackish) versus salinity-sensitive (freshwater) Simocephalus vetulus genotypes, obtaining reaction norms for quantitative phenotypic traits (survival, fecundity, fitness). We found intra-specific (i.e., clonal) variability in the life-history responses of S. vetulus populations, but no evidence that the most resistant clones (brackish) were best suited to cope with salinity. Surprisingly, brackish genotypes were the most affected in terms of fecundity when exposed to sublethal levels of NaCl, which could be viewed as a potential trade-off mechanism. Although differences in tolerant and less tolerant genotypes were small, they may be important in genotype and species sorting in colonization or recolonization events in freshwater systems facing salinization.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT, Portugal) in the form of a PhD grant to Cláudia Loureiro (SFRH/BD/36333/2007) and by CESAM (Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies, University of Aveiro), which financed Ana Cuco’s research grant. Bruno B. Castro is hired under the program Ciência2008 (FCT, Portugal), co-funded by the Human Potential Operational Program (National Strategic Reference Framework 2007–2013) and European Social Fund (EU). This work is part of the project Saltfree (PTDC/AAC-AMB/104532/2008), which is funded by FEDER through COMPETE-Programa Operacional Factores de Competitividade, by national funding from FCT.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology & CESAM, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal

    Cláudia Loureiro, Bruno B. Castro, Ana P. Cuco & Fernando Gonçalves

  2. Unidade de I&D no 70/94 – Química-Física Molecular/FCT, MCT, Departamento de Química, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia Universidade de Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal

    M. Arminda Pedrosa

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  1. Cláudia Loureiro
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  2. Bruno B. Castro
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  3. Ana P. Cuco
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  4. M. Arminda Pedrosa
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  5. Fernando Gonçalves
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Correspondence to Bruno B. Castro.

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Handling editor: Piet Spaak

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Loureiro, C., Castro, B.B., Cuco, A.P. et al. Life-history responses of salinity-tolerant and salinity-sensitive lineages of a stenohaline cladoceran do not confirm clonal differentiation. Hydrobiologia 702, 73–82 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-012-1308-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-012-1308-5

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