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Effects of maternal age and stress on offspring quality in a viviparous fly
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  • Jennifer Lord,
  • Robert Leyland,
  • Lee Haines,
  • Antoine Barreaux,
  • Michael Bonsall,
  • Stephen Torr,
  • Sinead English
Jennifer Lord
Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Robert Leyland
Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine
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Lee Haines
Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine
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Antoine Barreaux
University of Bristol
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Michael Bonsall
University of Oxford
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Stephen Torr
Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine
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Sinead English
University of Bristol
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Abstract

Many organisms show signs of deterioration with age, both in terms of survival and reproduction. Theory suggests that variation in such senescence patterns can be driven by resource availability or reproductive history. Here, we test this theory by manipulating nutritional stress and age at first reproduction and measuring age-dependent reproductive output in tsetse (Glossina morsitans morsitans), a viviparous fly with high maternal allocation. Across all treatments, offspring wet weight followed a bell-shaped curve with maternal age. Nutritionally stressed females had higher probability of abortion, produced smaller offspring with lower starvation tolerance. Despite this, there was no strong evidence of differences between treatments in the pattern of abortion probability, offspring wet weight or offspring starvation tolerance with age. Therefore, although we found strong evidence of general reproductive senescence in tsetse, variation in the onset and rate of senescence was not explained by resource allocation trade-offs or the costs of reproduction.
03 Nov 2020Submitted to Ecology Letters
04 Nov 2020Submission Checks Completed
04 Nov 2020Assigned to Editor
04 Nov 2020Reviewer(s) Assigned
10 Dec 2020Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
14 Dec 2020Editorial Decision: Revise Major
24 Feb 20211st Revision Received
25 Feb 2021Submission Checks Completed
25 Feb 2021Assigned to Editor
25 Feb 2021Reviewer(s) Assigned
24 Mar 2021Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
30 Mar 2021Editorial Decision: Revise Major
20 May 20212nd Revision Received
21 May 2021Submission Checks Completed
21 May 2021Assigned to Editor
24 May 2021Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
26 May 2021Editorial Decision: Accept