However, population egg size was not related to mean survival (F 1,5 = 3.5, p = 0.2).
Increased quantities of microplastic could also mean population growth of the water skaters, and more pressure on their prey zooplankton and fish eggs, according to the study.
That means population will never double again.
In the N2 populations, egg-to-adult survival was lower than in the control population at all but one inbreeding coefficients (judged from the confidence intervals; mean value <1, CI not overlapping 1; Fig. 1A; Table S3).
1 average survival time 2 median survival time 3 maximum survival 4 mean total egg rafts produced per female 5 net reproduction rate 6 mean generation time 7 population growth rate Mean wing lengths between replicates and among groups were statistically similar for all individual comparisons (p > 0.05, t-test).
The mean intensity of egg shedding was 5,000 eggs per gram (range 800 11,200 eggs per gram; data not shown).
For the estimates of larval survival, a mean of 150 eggs per egg mass was assumed.
Each experimental tank was stocked with 1 kg of eggs, and the mean number of eggs (1,400,000) was estimated, by measuring the mean egg diameter, with a mean initial rearing density of 88 larvae l−1.
The S5*D3 cross had the highest mean egg number, i.e. 345.2, whereas the S4*D6 had the lowest mean egg number, i.e. 326.1.
