Trade-offs in dormancy phenology in endotherms and ectotherms

  1. UMR 7178, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert CURIEN, Université de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France
  2. Department of Biological Sciences, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, United States
  3. Department of Interdisciplinary Life Sciences, Research Institute of Wildlife Ecology, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Vienna, Austria
  4. Energetic Lab, Department of Biology, Northern Michigan University, Marquette, MI, USA

Peer review process

Not revised: This Reviewed Preprint includes the authors’ original preprint (without revision), an eLife assessment, and public reviews.

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Editors

  • Reviewing Editor
    Chima Nwaogu
    University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
  • Senior Editor
    Christian Landry
    Université Laval, Québec, Canada

Reviewer #1 (Public Review):

Summary:
Dormancy/diapause/hibernation (depending on how the terms are defined) is a key life history strategy that allows the temporal escape from unfavorable conditions. Although environmental conditions do play a major role in inducing and terminating dormancy (authors call this energy limitation hypothesis), the authors test a mutually non-exclusive hypothesis (life-history hypothesis) that sex-specific selection pressures, at least to some extent, would further shape the timing of these life-history events. Authors use a metanalytic approach to collect data (mainly on rodents) on various life-history traits to test trade-offs among these traits between sexes and how they affect entry and termination of dormancy.

Strengths:
I found the theoretical background in the Introduction quite interesting, to the point and the arguments were well-placed. How sex-specific selection pressures would drive entry and termination of diapause in insects (e.g. protandry), especially in temperate butterflies, is very well investigated. Authors attempt to extend these ideas to endotherms and trying to find general patterns across ectotherms and endotherms is particularly exciting. This work and similar evidence could make a great contribution to the life-history theory, specifically understanding factors that drive the regulation of life cycle timing.

Weaknesses:
1. I felt that including 'ectotherms' in the title is a bit misleading as there is hardly (in fact any?) any data presented on ectotherms. Also, most of the focus of the discussion is heavily mammal (rodent) focussed. I believe saying endotherms in the title as well is a bit misleading as the data is mammal-focused.

2. I think more information needs to be provided early on to make readers aware of the diversity of animals included in the study and their geographic distribution. Are they mostly temperate or tropical? What is the span of the latitude as day length can have a major influence on dormancy timings? I think it is important to point out that data is more rodent-centric. Along the line of this point, is there a reason why the extensively studied species like the Red Deer or Soay Sheep and other well-studied temperate mammals did not make it into the list?

3. Isn't the term 'energy limitation hypothesis' which is used throughout the manuscript a bit endotherm-centric? Especially if the goal is to draw generalities across ectotherms and endotherms. Moreover, climate (e.g. interaction of photoperiod and temperature in temperatures) most often induces or terminates diapause/dormancy in ectotherms so I am not sure if saying 'energy limitation hypothesis' is general enough.

4. Since for some species, the data is averaged across studies to get species-level trait estimates, is there a scope to examine within population differences (e.g. across latitudes)? This may further strengthen the evidence and rule out the possibility of the environment, especially the length of the breeding season, affecting the timing of emergence and immergence.

5. Although the authors are looking at the broader patterns, I felt like the overall ecology of the species (habitat, tropical or temperate, number of broods, etc.) is overlooked and could act as confounding factors.

6. I strongly think the data analysis part needs more clarity. As of now, it is difficult for me to visualize all the fitted models (despite Table 1), and the large number of life-history traits adds to this complexity. I would recommend explicitly writing down all the models in the text. Also, the Table doesn't make it clear whether interaction was allowed between the predictors or not. More information on how PGLS were fitted needs to be provided in the main text which is in the supplementary right now. I kept wondering if the authors have fit multiple models, for example, with different correlation structures or by choosing different values of lambda parameter. And, in addition to PGLS, authors are also fitting linear regressions. Can you explain clearly in the text why was this done?

7. Figure 2 is unclear, and I do not understand how these three regression lines were computed. Please provide more details.

Reviewer #2 (Public Review):

Summary:
An article with lots of interesting ideas and questions regarding the evolution of timing of dormancy, emphasizing mammalian hibernation but also including ectotherms. The authors compare selective forces of constraints due to energy availability versus predator avoidance and requirements and consequences of reproduction in a review of between and within species (sex) differences in the seasonal timing of entry and exit from dormancy.

Strengths:
The multispecies approach including endotherms and ectotherms is ambitious. This review is rich with ideas if not in convincing conclusions.

Weaknesses:
The differences between physiological requirements for gameatogenesis between sexes that affect the timing of heterothermy and the need for euthermy during mammalian hibernator are significant issues that underlie but are under-discussed, in this contrast of selective pressures that determine seasonal timing of dormancy. Some additional discussion of the effects of rapid climate change on between and within species phenologies of dormancy would have been interesting.

  1. Howard Hughes Medical Institute
  2. Wellcome Trust
  3. Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
  4. Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation