Data from: Parental and embryonic experiences with predation risk affect prey offspring behavior and performance

Because phenotypic plasticity can operate both within and between generations, phenotypic outcomes are often shaped by a complex history of environmental signals. For example, parental and embryonic experiences with predation risk can both independently and interactively influence prey offspring traits early in their life. Parental and embryonic risk experiences can also independently shape offspring phenotypes throughout an offspring’s ontogeny, but the persistence of their interactive effects throughout offspring ontogeny is unknown. We examined the effects of parental and embryonic experiences with predation risk on the response of one-year-old prey (the carnivorous snail, Nucella lapillus) offspring to current predation risk. We found that parental and embryonic risk experiences had largely independent effects on offspring performance and that these effects were context dependent. Parental experience with risk had strong impacts on multiple offspring traits in the presence of current risk that generally improved offspring performance under risk, but embryonic risk experience had relatively weaker effects and only operated in the absence of current risk to reduce offspring growth. These results illustrate that past environmental experiences can dynamically shape organism phenotypes across ontogeny and that attention to these effects is key to a better understanding of predator/prey dynamics in natural systems.

由于表型可塑性（phenotypic plasticity）可在代内与代际层面发挥作用，表型结果通常由复杂的环境信号经历史共同塑造。例如，亲本与胚胎阶段的捕食风险经历，可独立或交互地影响猎物幼体早期的生命性状。亲本与胚胎的风险经历还可在子代整个个体发育（ontogeny）过程中独立调控其表型，但二者交互效应在子代个体发育全程的持续性仍属未知。本研究针对亲本与胚胎阶段的捕食风险经历，探究其对1龄猎物幼体（肉食性螺类，薄壳峨螺（Nucella lapillus））应对当前捕食风险的反应所产生的影响。研究结果表明，亲本与胚胎的风险经历对子代性能表现的影响总体上呈独立性，且这些效应均具有情境依赖性。在当前存在捕食风险的条件下，亲本风险经历对子代多项性状产生了显著影响，且通常可提升子代在风险环境下的性能表现；而胚胎阶段的风险经历则仅在当前无捕食风险时发挥较弱的效应，可抑制子代的生长。本研究结果表明，过往的环境经历可在子代个体发育全程动态调控生物体的表型；而关注此类效应，是深入理解自然系统中捕食者-猎物动态关系的关键所在。