Resources and offspring provisioning: a test of the Trexler-DeAngelis model for matrotrophy evolution.

Predation's role in life-history evolution of a livebearing fish and a test of the Trexler-DeAngelis model of maternal provisioning.

Populations experiencing consistent differences in predation risk and resource availability are expected to follow divergent evolutionary trajectories. For example, live-history theory makes specific predictions for how predation should drive life-history evolution, and according to the Trexler-DeAngelis model for the evolution of matrotrophy, postfertilization maternal provisioning is most lik...

Resource allocation in offspring provisioning: an evaluation of the conditions favoring the evolution of matrotrophy.

We used analytic and simulation models to determine the ecological conditions favoring evolution of a matrotrophic fish from a lecithotrophic ancestor given a complex set of trade-offs. Matrotrophy is the nourishment of viviparous embryos by resources provided between fertilization and parturition, while lecithotrophy describes embryo nourishment provided before fertilization. In fishes and rep...

Modeling the Evolution of Complex Reproductive Adaptations in Poeciliid Fishes: Matrotrophy and Superfetation

Independent evolution of complex life history adaptations in two families of fishes, live-bearing halfbeaks (zenarchopteridae, beloniformes) and poeciliidae (cyprinodontiformes).

We have previously documented multiple, independent origins of placentas in the fish family Poeciliidae. Here we summarize similar analyses of fishes in the family Zenarchopteridae. This family includes three live-bearing genera. Earlier studies documented the presence of superfetation, or the ability to carry multiple litters of young in different stages of development in the same ovary, in so...

Parent-offspring conflict in the evolution of vertebrate reproductive mode.

We propose and evaluate the hypothesis that parent-offspring conflict over the degree of maternal investment has been one of the main selective factors in the evolution of vertebrate reproductive mode. This hypothesis is supported by data showing that the assumptions of parent-offspring conflict theory are met for relevant taxa; the high number of independent origins of viviparity, matrotrophy ...