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Life History Strategies of Different Developmental Rates: Causes and Consequences

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Life History Strategies of Different Developmental Rates: Causes and Consequences 1949 Life history strategies of different developmental rates: causes and consequences Thesis for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) by Zoltán Rádai Supervisors: Prof. Zoltán Barta Prof. Ferenc Samu UNIVERSITY OF DEBRECEN Doctoral Council of Natural Sciences and Information Technology Doctoral School of Juhász-Nagy Pál Debrecen, 2020 Hereby I declare that I prepared this thesis within the Doctoral Council of Natural Sciences and Information Technology, Doctoral School of Juhász-Nagy Pál , University of Debrecen in order to obtain a PhD Degree in Natural Sciences at Debrecen University. The results published in the thesis are not reported in any other PhD theses. Debrecen, 2020. ……………………………………. Zoltán Rádai Hereby I confirm that Zoltán Rádai candidate conducted his studies with my supervision within the Biodiversity Doctoral Program of the Doctoral School of Juhász-Nagy Pál between 2015 and 2019. The independent studies and research work of the candidate significantly contributed to the results published in the thesis. I also declare that the results published in the thesis are not reported in any other theses. I support the acceptance of the thesis. Debrecen, 2020. ……………………………………. Prof. Zoltán Barta Hereby I confirm that Zoltán Rádai candidate conducted his studies with my supervision within the Biodiversity Doctoral Program of the Doctoral School of Juhász-Nagy Pál between 2015 and 2019. The independent studies and research work of the candidate significantly contributed to the results published in the thesis. I also declare that the results published in the thesis are not reported in any other theses. I support the acceptance of the thesis. Debrecen, 2020. ……………………………………. Prof. Ferenc Samu Life history strategies of different developmental rates: causes and consequences Dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the doctoral (PhD) degree in Biology Written by Zoltán Rádai certified Biologist in the framework of the Juhász-Nagy Pál Doctoral School of the University of Debrecen (Biodiversity programme) Dissertation advisors: Dr. Zoltán Barta, Dr. Ferenc Samu The comprehensive examination board: chairperson: Dr. Attila V. Molnár members: Dr. Ádám Zoltán Lendvai Dr. Péter László Pap The date of the comprehensive examination: 2018. 11. 19. The official opponents of the dissertation: Dr. Tamás Szűts ................................................. Dr. Csongor I. Vágási ................................................. The evaluation committee: chairperson: ................................................. ................................................. members: ................................................. ................................................. ................................................. ................................................. ................................................. ................................................. ................................................. ................................................. The date of the dissertation defence: ................................................. Table of Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS..................................................................................................1 CHAPTER I.....................................................................................................................5 I.1 GENERAL INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................5 I.1.1 Variation in life histories...............................................................................5 I.1.2 Variation in developmental rate and cohort splitting....................................9 I.1.3 Specific background and hypotheses...........................................................12 I.2 OBJECTIVES AND RESULTS....................................................................................19 Study 1: Effect of weather conditions on cohort splitting in a wolf spider species........................................................................................................19 Study 2: Pace of life and behaviour: rapid development is linked with increased activity and voracity in the wolf spider Pardosa agrestis......................................21 Study 3: Consequences of rapid development owing to cohort splitting: just how costly is to hurry?....................................................................................23 Study 4: Antibacterial immune functions of subadults and adults in a semelparous spider................................................................................................25 Study 5: Sex-dependent immune response in a semelparous spider......................27 I.3 GENERAL DISCUSSION...........................................................................................29 I.4 CONCLUSIONS........................................................................................................39 I.5 KEY FINDINGS........................................................................................................40 I.6 ÖSSZEFOGLALÁS....................................................................................................41 I.7 JELENTŐSEBB EREDMÉNYEK.................................................................................42 I.8 REFERENCES..........................................................................................................43 CHAPTER II.................................................................................................................55 II.1 LIST OF PUBLISHED RESEARCH ARTICLES...........................................................55 II.1.1 Publications relevant for the dissertation.........................................................55 II.1.2 Additional publications.....................................................................................56 II.2 RESEARCH ITEMS.................................................................................................57 Study 1: Effect of weather conditions on cohort splitting in a wolf spider species........................................................................................................58 Study 2: Pace of life and behaviour: rapid development is linked with increased activity and voracity in the wolf spider Pardosa agrestis......................................62 Study 3: Consequences of rapid development owing to cohort splitting: just how costly is to hurry?....................................................................................69 Study 4: Antibacterial immune functions of subadults and adults in a semelparous spider................................................................................................84 Study 5: Sex-dependent immune response in a semelparous spider....................107 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I’m very grateful to my supervisors, Dr. Zoltán Barta and Dr. Ferenc Samu, for their scientific and personal support throughout the years of my dissertation work: they always readily provided both council and freedom for my research. I am forever in- debted to Johanna Kiss, Dr. Gábor Kardos, Ferenc Báthori, Szabolcs Ádám and Alex Váradi, not only for their immense amount of help and countless constructive dis- cussions, but for their supportive friendship as well. The work of my students, Péter Kiss and Dávid Nagy, is also much appreciated, without whom many of the work would have been much more laborious, if not unfeasible. I’m also thankful for the help of a great number (if not all) of the people at the MTA-DE Behavioural Eco- logy Research Group, and indeed, the Department of Evolutionary Zoology and Hu- man Biology, where I learned much more than scientific research. Many others helped me in addition from other departments of our University as well, such as from the Department of Botany, Department of Biotechnology and Microbiology, Department of Ecology, and Institute of Immunology, for which I am so thankful; most of all I am much obliged to Dr. Attila Bácsi, for his repeated technical aid and several thoughtful discourses. Although unfortunately scarcely, but I was privileged to enjoy the friendly support of many members of the Hungarian arachnologists, es- pecially so of Balázs Kiss, whose previous work on Pardosa agrestis I relied heavily on. I furthermore owe immense gratitude to Dr. Agnieszka Babczyńska, Dr. Jacek Francikowski, Bartosz Baran, and Michał Krzyzowski, not only for their profes- sional assistance and collaborations, but for their most heart warming friendship as well, as am I, in fact, beholden to everyone for their kindness and helpfulness at the Department of Animal Physiology and Ecotoxicology (University of Silesia in Katowice). I particularly appreciated the ever-enthusiastic and amicable support of Dr. Orsolya Valkó and Dr. Balázs Deák, who provided a place in their extremely friendly and productive research group. Naturally, special thanks is owed to my fam- ily for supporting my endeavour to pursue seemingly alien concepts, treading on a path that does not appear to have light on its end as of yet. 1 During my PhD I was supported by an award of National Talent Program (NTP- EFÖ-P-15-0328), by the Programme of Fellowships under the Polish National Com- mission for UNESCO financed by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Educa- tion, and by two mobility scholarships of Erasmus+ (GfNA-II-C-Annex IV-I- Erasmus+ HE-2015). The studies presented in the dissertation were supported by the Higher Education Institutional Excellence Program of the
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