Energy reserves and reproductive investment in male three-spined sticklebacks, Gasterosteus aculeatus |
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| Authors: | F A Huntingford S Chellappa A C Taylor R H C Strang |
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| Institution: | Fish Biology Group, Division of Environmental &Evolutionary Biology and;Division of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Institute of Biomedical &Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom |
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| Abstract: | Abstract – In a 6-month study of male sticklebacks from a single cohort of an annual population, energy reserves (carbohydrate, lipid and protein) in the carcass and gonad were found to increase from December to May. Energy reserves in the liver increased from December to March before declining between March and April, a period of marked gonadal growth in this population. Examination at the individual level of the interrelationships among the various components of the energy store (corrected for differences in body size) identified overall body condition as a major component of variation and highlighted a negative relationship between energetic investment in gonadal tissue and energy reserves in various somatic compartments. Early in the season, relative gonadal weight was largely unrelated to somatic energy reserves, but from March onwards there was a negative correlation between these two variables. These data suggest that a significant flux of glycogen and lipid from the somatic to the gonadal tissue occurs in male sticklebacks in the period just prior to the breeding season, with the extent of gonadal growth varying between individuals and occurring at the expense of overall nutritional status. Note |
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| Keywords: | lipid protein carbohydrates reproductive investment energy reserves |
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