Fitness consequences of larval traits persist across the metamorphic boundary

Metamorphosis is thought to provide an adaptive decoupling between traits specialised for each life-history stage in species with complex life cycles. However, an increasing number of studies are finding that larval traits can carry-over to influence post-metamorphic performance, suggesting that these life-history stages may not be free to evolve independently of each other. We used a phenotypic selection framework to compare the relative and interactive effects of larval size, time to hatching, and time to settlement on post-metamorphic survival and growth in a marine invertebrate, Styela plicata. Time to hatching was the only larval trait found to be under directional selection, individuals that took more time to hatch into larvae survived better after metamorphosis but grew more slowly. Non-linear selection was found to act on multivariate trait combinations, once again acting in opposite directions for selection acting via survival and growth. Individuals with above average values o...