Development time, adult body weight and fecundity of female Trichonephila senegalensis spiders

Variation in life history traits within a population is caused by genetic, maternal and environmental factors. We explore high variability in development time, adult body weight and fecundity in females of the sexually-size dimorphic spider Trichonephila senegalensis. While their mothers originated from two habitats – strongly seasonal Namibia and mildly seasonal South Africa, we reared F1 females under standardized laboratory conditions. We find that a considerable part of the variability in recorded life-history traits is caused by family-specific effects, comprising genetic, maternal and early environmental influences. Furthermore, we show population differences in development time, where females originating from Namibia matured within shorter periods than females from South Africa. Also, the relationship between development time and adult weight differs between the two populations, as a significant correlation is only found in females with Namibian origin. Against common wisdom, t...

种群内生活史性状的变异由遗传因素、母体效应与环境因素共同导致。本研究针对性体型二型蜘蛛Trichonephila senegalensis雌性个体的发育时长、成虫体重及繁殖力的高度变异展开探究。实验所用F1代雌性个体的母代分别来自两类生境：具有强季节性的纳米比亚种群，以及季节性较弱的南非种群，且所有F1代雌性个体均在标准化实验室条件下饲养。研究结果显示，观测到的生活史性状变异中，有相当比例源于家系特异性效应，涵盖遗传、母体效应及早期环境影响。此外，本研究还发现两个种群在发育时长上存在显著差异：源自纳米比亚的雌性个体成熟周期较南非种群雌性更短。同时，发育时长与成虫体重间的关联模式在两个种群间亦存在差异：仅在纳米比亚来源的雌性个体中，二者间存在显著的相关性。与学界普遍认知相悖的是，