Effects of early nutritional stress on physiology, life-histories and their trade-offs in a model ectothermic vertebrate

Early-life experiences can have far-reaching consequences for phenotypes into adulthood. The effect of early-life experiences on fitness, particularly under adverse conditions, is mediated by resource allocation to particular life-history traits. We examined the effects of early-life food restriction on growth, adult body size, physiology and reproduction in the checkered garter snake, Thamnophis marcianus. Animals were placed on one of two early-life diet treatments: normal-diet (approximating ad libitum feeding) or low-diet (restricted to 20% of body mass in food weekly). At 15 weeks of age low-diet animals were switched to the normal-diet treatment. Individuals fed a restricted diet showed reduced growth rates, depressed immunocompetence and a heightened glucocorticoid response. Once food restriction was lifted, animals that experienced nutritional stress early in life (low-diet) caught up to the normal-diet group by increasing their growth, and were able to recover from the negative...