Resource availability and its effects on mother to embryo nutrient transfer in two viviparous fish species

Different hypotheses have been proposed to explain the adaptive value of matrotrophy, which is the postfertilization maternal provisioning to developing embryos. The Trexler-DeAngelis model proposes that matrotrophy provides fitness advantages when food abundance is high and availability is constant. If food availability is low or unpredictable, prefertilization maternal provisioning (lecithotrophy) should be favored over matrotrophy. In this study, we tested this model in two fish species from the family Poeciliidae, Poeciliopsis gracilis and P. infans, using field and laboratory data. In the field study, we explored the effects of population, season, and food abundance on the degree of matrotrophy. In P. infans, we found evidence that supports this model: In the population where food abundance decreased during the dry season, females reduced the amount of postfertilization provisioning and thus exhibited a more lecithotrophic strategy. In P. gracilis, we observed patterns that were partially consistent with this model: Food abundance decreased during the wet season in three populations of this species, but only in one of these populations, females exhibited less postfertilization nutrient transfer during this season. In the laboratory study, we tested the effects of constant, fluctuating, and low food availability on the relative amounts of pre- and postfertilization provisioning of P. infans. Our laboratory results also support the Trexler-DeAngelis model because both low and fluctuating food regimes promoted a more lecithotrophic strategy. Together, our findings indicate that the benefits of matrotrophy are more likely to occur when females have constant access to food sources.