Dataset for dopamine manipulated daphnia

The neurotransmitter dopamine has been shown to play an important role in
modulating behavioural, morphological and life-history responses to food
abundance. However, costs of expressing high dopamine levels remain poorly
studied and are essential for understanding the evolution of the dopamine
system. Negative maternal effects on offspring size from enhanced maternal
dopamine levels have previously been documented in Daphnia. Here, we
tested whether this translates into fitness costs in terms of lower
starvation resistance in offspring. We exposed Daphnia
magna mothers to aqueous dopamine (2.3 mg/L or 0 mg/L for the
control) at two food levels (ad libitum versus 30% ad
libitum) and recorded a range of maternal life history traits. The
longevity of their offspring was then quantified in the absence of food.
In both control and dopamine treatments, mothers that experienced
restricted food ration had lower somatic growth rates and higher age at
maturation. Maternal food restriction also resulted in production of
larger offspring that had a superior starvation resistance, compared
to ad libitum groups. However, although dopamine exposed mothers
produced smaller offspring than controls at restricted food ration, these
smaller offspring survived longer under starvation. Hence, maternal
dopamine exposure provided an improved offspring starvation resistance.