Sensitive windows for within- and trans-generational plasticity of anti-predator defences

Abstract

Transgenerational plasticity could be an important mechanism for adaptation to variable environments in addition to within-generational plasticity. But its potential for adaptation may be restricted to specific developmental windows that are highly sensitive and responsive to environmental cues. Determining these sensitive windows is essential to understand the temporal dynamic of environmental cue detection, phenotype induction and selection. We examined the sensitive windows of both within-and trans-generational plasticity of anti-predator defences in the freshwater snail Physa acuta . Parental snails were exposed to olfactory cues of their cray-fish predator at different exposure windows: embryonic development, early, mid or late post-embryonic development. Behavioural and morphological defences were then assessed in adult parents and offspring. The sensitive window of within-generational plasticity was the embryonic development, the whole post-embryonic development, or a combination of early-life