Talk A: Is Daphnia magna an exception to the temperature-size rule? by Alexandre Terrigeol, CEES
Life history strategies among various environments have been of interest for scientists for years. A larger body size is often associated with higher fitness while a reduced body size is expected to be a universal response to global warming. Yet, exception to the temperature size rule (TSR) remain and the mechanisms are still a puzzle for biologists. Here we examine the temperature responses of growth and development in Daphnia magna, using four different clones from different thermal regimes. Our results reveal some intraspecific differences between clones' responses to temperature. As expected growth rate and developmental rate were positively correlated with temperature but with separate reaction norms. However we found no differences for the size at maturity or the asymptotic size with temperature. Hence, Daphnia magna seems to be another exception to the TSR and we discuss in this study several explanations why.
Talk B: When three traits make a line; evolution of reaction norms and genetic assimilation by Torbjørn Håkon Ergon, CEES
This is a pub-talk (a talk about a recently published paper presented in a “pub” style, BYO). In short, it’s about quantitative genetics modelling of linear reaction norms. Only theory – no data. (I will present some version of this at the EVOLUTION conference). If you want more details, see the full abstract in the paper.