Induction of male production in clones of Daphnia pulex by the juvenoid hormone methyl farnesoate under short photoperiod

The juvenile hormone, methyl farnesoate (MF), and its analog insecticides have been used successfully to induce the production of males in cladocerans under long-day conditions in the laboratory. However, without hormone addition Daphnia do not usually produce male offspring under long photoperiods, while short photoperiods are a stimulus for the induction of males. We used 21 clones of Daphnia pulex differing in their propensity to produce males under short-day conditions to test whether the treatment with MF would result in an additive effect of shifting the sex ratio towards males. Contrary to our expectations, clones with a high tendency of male production showed a reduced sex ratio in response to MF treatment under short-day conditions, but clones that produced normally few males or did not produce males were stimulated by 700 nM MF to produce up to 40% males. We suggest that the endocrine disruptive effect of MF or juvenile hormone analogs in the field may depend on the clonal composition of the cladoceran population and on the natural photoperiod. This may affect the seasonal occurrence of sexual reproduction and eventually cause a mismatch between the presence of males and ephippial females.