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Interference of asexual and sexual reproduction in the green hydra
Author(s) -
Kaliszewicz Anita
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
ecological research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.628
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1440-1703
pISSN - 0912-3814
DOI - 10.1007/s11284-010-0771-6
Subject(s) - asexual reproduction , biology , sexual reproduction , lernaean hydra , budding , reproduction , population , propagule , hermaphrodite , zoology , ecology , botany , demography , sociology , microbiology and biotechnology
The green hydra, Hydra viridissima , has three sexes: hermaphrodite, male, and female. I investigated the reproductive strategies of the green hydra and the relationship between asexual budding and sexual reproduction. The proportion of mature individuals in the asexually reproducing population increased with increasing temperature. Sexual reproduction did not interrupt asexual budding in hermaphrodites or males; sexual reproduction did interrupt asexual budding in females. Sexual reproduction also resulted in exponential population growth during the reproductive season. The number of asexual buds on each parental individual was positively correlated with the parental individual size in asexual individuals and in males. The same positive correlation was found between the number of testicles and the size of males. These correlations reflect a common tendency in asexual and sexual reproduction: larger parental individuals have a greater number of propagules or gametes. No correlation was found between size and buds or size and gonads in hermaphrodites; hermaphrodites had at most one asexual bud and were significantly larger than males, females, and asexual individuals. The larger size of hermaphrodites supports the hypothesis that producing both female and male gonads is more energetically costly than producing only one type of gamete (gonochorism).