Phenotypic plasticity in sperm production rate: there’s more to it than testis size

Abstract

Evolutionary theory predicts that males should produce more sperm when sperm competition is high. Because sperm production rate is difficult to measure in most organisms, comparative and experimental studies have typically used testis size instead, while assuming a good correspondence between testis size and sperm production rate. Here we evaluate this common assumption using the marine flatworm Macrostomum lignano, in which we can estimate sperm production rate because the accumulation of produced sperm can be observed in vivo. In earlier studies we have shown that testis size is phenotypically plastic in M. lignano: worms can be induced to make larger testes by raising them in groups instead of pairs, and these larger testes have a higher cell proliferation activity (i.e. they are more energetically costly). Here we demonstrate that worms with such experimentally enlarged testes have a higher sperm production rate. Moreover, although testis size and sperm production rate were related linearly, worms with experimentally enlarged testes had a higher sperm production rate per unit testis size (i.e. a higher spermatogenic efficiency). We thus show that phenotypically plastic adjustment of sperm production rate includes a component that is independent of testis size. We discuss possible reasons for this novel finding, and suggest that the relationship between testis size and sperm production needs to be evaluated in other species as well.