Exposure to nutritional stress during early ontogeny can generate latent effects that are carried over to later developmental stages and affect their growth performance. However, the compensatory role played by food quality at such later stages is not well known in invertebrates with bi-phasic life cycles. Here, larvae of the caridean shrimp Palaemon varians were either allowed to feed immediately after hatching or forced to advance to their next larval stage by catabolizing their endogenous energy reserves (using facultative primary lecithotrophy). After metamorphosis, decapodids originating from both groups of larvae were exposed to one of the following trophic scenarios until reaching the fifth juvenile stage: i) low nutritional quality, ii) high nutritional quality, iii) shifting from low to high nutritional quality, or iv) shifting from high to low nutritional quality. Delayed exogenous feeding reduced the growth performance of juvenile shrimp but access to a stable, high-quality diet improved it, promoting a faster development, and a superior fatty acid profile. These findings indicate a compensatory role induced by a high nutritional quality trophic scenario. Although none of the trophic scenarios to which P. varians was exposed to in the present study led to irreversible damage, trophic conditions pre-metamorphosis can shape post-metamorphosis growth performance.

在个体发育早期暴露于营养压力会产生潜伏效应，这些效应会延续到后期发育阶段并影响其生长性能。然而，在具有双相生命周期的无脊椎动物中，食品质量在后期所起的补偿作用并不为人所知。在这里，caridean 虾Palaemon varians的幼虫要么在孵化后立即进食，要么通过分解它们的内源性能量储备（使用兼性初级促细胞营养）被迫进入下一个幼虫阶段。变态后，来自两组幼虫的十足目动物暴露于以下营养情景之一，直到达到第五个幼年阶段：i）低营养质量，ii）高营养质量，iii）从低营养质量转变为高营养质量，或iv ) 从高营养质量转向低营养质量。延迟外源饲喂降低了幼虾的生长性能，但获得稳定、优质的日粮改善了它，促进了更快的发育和优越的脂肪酸组成。这些研究结果表明高营养质量营养情景引起的补偿作用。在本研究中暴露于P. varians会导致不可逆的损害，变态前的营养条件可以塑造变态后的生长性能。