Figure - available via license: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
Content may be subject to copyright.
Differences in AICc scores (ΔAICc) between each compet- ing model and the best-fitting model (indicated by ΔAICc = 0 and highlighted in bold) for three life-history traits of six fish species of the family Poeciliidae. Competing models represent that traits may vary among species and/or may be influenced by female size. The addition and multiplication symbols represent additive and interactive effects of predictors, respectively
Source publication
A large body of knowledge about life-history traits has arisen from research on viviparous fishes of the family Poeciliidae. Still, the wide variation among species in reproductive strategies provides an excellent opportunity to further explore how life-history traits covary and the causes of covariation patterns. In this study, we provide informat...
Context in source publication
Context 1
... dashed line and white circles represent small females, whereas the continuous line and black circles represent large females. Both lines represent the predicted relationships according to the model that we selected (see Table 1) between species and female SL unambiguously provided the best fit to all three traits ( Table 3), indicating that the influence of female size on embryo mass, brood size, and RA differed among species (Fig. 7). Despite being mediumsized species, Priapella intermedia and Pseudoxiphophorus jonesii produce the largest embryos (Fig. 7a). ...Similar publications
The thermal ecology of ectotherm animals has gained considerable attention in the face of human induced climate change. Particularly in aquatic species the experimental assessment of critical thermal limits (CT min and CT max ) may help to predict possible effects of global warming on habitat suitability and ultimately species survival. Here we pre...
Citations
... Schlupp 2011;Frías-Alvarez et al. 2014;Golden, Belk, and Johnson 2021;Hulthén et al. 2021;Jaime Zúñiga-Vega, Reznick, and Johnson 2007;Johnson and Belk 2001;José, Rodríguez, and León 2013;Mukherjee et al. 2014;Pollux et al. 2009;Reznick, Rodd, and Cardenas 1996;Reznick 1997;Reznick and Bryga 1996;Langerhans 2013, 2020;Riesch et al. 2014;Roth-Monzón et al. 2021;Schlupp, Taebel-Hellwig, and Tobler 2010;Weldele, Jaime Zúñiga-Vega, and Johnson 2014;Zúñiga-Vega et al. 2024). Pioneering work done in the Trinidadian guppy (Poecilia reticulata) Reznick and Endler 1982;Reznick 1997) has inspired dozens of additional research studies in several other livebearing fishes, each testing some aspect of life history theory. ...
Livebearing fishes in the family Poeciliidae have been essential to testing life history theory. These species are remarkable because males internally inseminate females, and females give birth to free‐swimming young, making these fishes amenable to investigating the evolution of a variety of life history traits, including the timing and nature of maternal reproductive investment, timing of maturity, strategies for maternal provisioning of embryos, and several other classic life history traits. However, researchers vary in the methods that they use to measure these traits, making it difficult to compare findings across studies. Here, I present a standardized approach to studying life history traits in livebearing fishes. I describe methods for preserving samples in the field, for collecting data on a standard set of life history traits, and for processing data in ways that will allow comparisons among studies. I highlight different options in preservation techniques and in data collection that are dependent on the specific questions being addressed. Finally, I argue for a standard approach moving forward to make it possible to complete large‐scale comparative studies to reveal how life history traits have evolved in this important model system.
