Matrotrophs are income breeders that increase feeding rate to match the increase in energy needs demanded by reproduction (Trexler, 1997). In environments with a steady and plentiful food supply, matrotrophy is a superior form of reproduction to lecithotrophy (Trexler and DeAngelis, 2003) (Jonsson, 1997).
Advantages:
*Matrotrophy allows increased fecundity and brood size as females lay a greater number of smaller eggs than their lecithotrophic counter parts (Trexler and DeAngelis, 2003).
*Since fat stores are not the primary form of energy investment for matrotrophic mothers, they are leaner than lecithotrophs during gestation (Trexler and DeAngelis, 2003).
*The maintenance cost of a lean organism is much smaller than the maintenance cost of an organism with fat stores. As a result, lean mothers are able to maximize their reproductive conversion efficiency or the unit of offspring output per unit of food input (Jonsson, 1998)
Disadvantages:
*The unpredictability of food sources may force the mother to abort some or all of her offspring (Trexler, 1997). If the environment's food availability is not equal to or in excess of the amount of food the female requires, she is forced to use energy from a small lipid store (Banet and Reznick, 2008). The use of this lipid store is a source of stress to the female, speeding up senesence and reducing life span (Banet and Reznick, 2008). Aditionally, if food availability is so inadequate that the females lipid level dips below a critical level, she must abort a number offspring and lose her energy investment (Trexler and DeAngelis, 2003)
Research has not been able to determine whether or not matrotrophic mother's forced to abort offspring due to low food levels can reabsorb some or all of the aborted embryo's energy (Banet and Reznick, 2008). Although the evidence is inconclusive, researchers recognize that this ability would allow matrotrophic reproduction to be advantages in a wider range of environments (Banet and Reznick, 2008).
