Brunner, F.S. ; Reynolds, A.; Price, S.; Atkinson, D.A.; Paterson, S.; Plaistow, S.J.

Multivariate life history phenotype of 56 Daphnia magna clones reared in four different environments (factorial cross of temperature x food)

https://doi.org/10.5285/cce747ad-7536-4669-a244-d8bc48693cc7 Cite this dataset

This dataset contains information about the multivariate plastic life-history responses and thermal tolerance capability of 56 Daphnia magna clones exposed to 4 different environments. The experiment was conducted in a laboratory at the University of Liverpool in 2017. The work was part of a larger mesocosm study that aimed to tease apart how plasticity and genetic diversity influence the evolutionary potential of natural populations.

Life history data were measured in common garden experiments. For each clone of the same genotype across all environments, we measured:

length at maturity;

length at second clutch;

age at maturity;

age at second clutch;

juvenile growth rate ((length at maturity - length as neonate) / age at maturity);

adult growth rate ((length at second clutch - length at maturity) / (age at second clutch-age at maturity));

average fecundity (across clutches 1 and 2); and

average offspring size (across clutches 1 and 2)

The work was supported by the Natural Environment Research Council (Grant NE/K007394/1).

Publication date: 2022-06-01

Format

Comma-separated values (CSV)

Temporal information

Temporal extent: 2017-01-01 to 2017-12-31

Provenance & quality

The data were collected by the authors as part of a NERC Highlight grant (Grant NE/N016017/1).

1) Daphnia magna clones used in the experiment were isolated from Brown Moss in Shropshire (52 deg 57' 01'' N 2deg 39' 05'' W) and Lake Ring in Denmark (55 deg 57' 51.83'' N, 9 deg 35' 46.87'' E) and the Camargue in Southern France as hatched resting eggs.

2) The plasticity of each clone was assayed by rearing all clones in common garden studies using 4 different environments (factorial cross of food and temperature).

3) The life-history of the 56 D. magna clones in each environment was assayed by photographing neonates, upon reaching maturity (measured as eggs in the brood pouch) and upon releasing their second clutch, using a Canon EOS 350D digital camera connected to a Leica MZ6 dissecting microscope. The number of neonates each individual produced in their 1st and 2nd clutch were counted and five neonates in each clutch were photographed to obtain an estimate of offspring size. Body size was measured as the distance from the top of the head to the base of the tail-spine using the image analysis software, (ImageJ version 1.45s). After mothers released their second clutch, their thermal tolerance (CTmax) was assayed as described by Geerts et al. (2015) allowing animals an acclimation period of 15 mins at 21 deg C followed by a ramping period of 40 s/deg C from 21 deg C to 50 deg C.

All data were checked, verified and processed for analysis. Critical thermal maximum (CTmax) was measured as in (Geerts et al., 2015).

Supplemental information

Geerts AN, Vanoverbeke J, Vanschoenwinkel B, Van Doorslaer W, Feuchtmayr H, Atkinson D, Moss B, Davidson TA, Sayer CD, De Meester L (2015) Rapid evolution of thermal tolerance in the water flea Daphnia. Nature Climate Change, 5: 665–668

https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2628