Meeting Abstract
The environment experienced by parents can affect offspring phenotypes. Such developmental plasticity is beneficial when it matches offspring responses to their prevailing environment. Developmental plasticity may be detrimental if there is a mismatch between parental and offspring environments. However, reversible acclimation could compensate for a developmental mismatch. UV-B radiation damages cells directly and by increasing reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation. Animals can acclimate their antioxidant defences to reduce ROS-induced damage. Additionally, there are indications that the developmental environment can influence ROS defences, which could enhance performance and fitness of offspring. Our aim was to test whether parental exposure to UV-B modulates offspring ROS defence mechanisms to reduce the negative effects of UV-B. Exposing guppies (Poecilia reticulata) to UV-B increased the resilience of their offspring to UV-B. When exposed to UV-B, offspring from parents also exposed to UV-B had significantly greater sustained swimming performance compared to control(no-UV-B) which was paralleled by higher catalase activity and glutathione concentrations, and reduced ROS damage to membranes and proteins. Parental exposure to UV-B did not affect offspring superoxide dismutase activity, resting and active metabolic rates, or their size. However, parental exposure to UV-B increased damage to proteins and infection rates by white spot fungus in control offspring. We showed that parental exposure to UV-B can be beneficial for offspring in environments exposed to UV-B. However, the trade-off between the beneficial effects on offspring in UV-B environment and increased susceptibility to infection in offspring in no-UV-B environment can be important in determining the resilience of populations in variable environments.
