Insects with access to finite energy resources must allocate these between maintenance and reproduction in a way that maximizes fitness. This will be influenced by a range of life-history characteristics and the environment in which any particular insect species lives. In the present study, females of the blowfly Lucilia sericata (Diptera: Calliphoridae) were fed diets differing in protein and carbohydrate (sucrose) content and the allocation of lipid to reproduction was quantified using a spectrophotometric method of analysis. Immediately after adult emergence, total body lipid, scaled for differences in body size, showed an initial decline as it was utilized to meet the metabolic demands of cuticle deposition, muscle maturation and then flight. When flies were denied access to sucrose, stored lipid then continued to decrease until flies died, usually within 4 days of emergence. However, flies given access to sucrose were able to increase body lipid content, demonstrating that carbohydrate is essential for homeostasis and that it can be used to synthesize lipid. Nevertheless, female flies fed sucrose only were unable to synthesize egg yolk. Only flies provided with protein were able to mature eggs. However, the rate of egg maturation and number and size of eggs matured were greater for female flies given liver compared with flies provided with pure whey protein powder. The results demonstrate the importance of different dietary components for different elements of the life-history of L. sericata, namely survival and reproduction.
Organisms trade‐off limited resources between life‐history traits to maximize fitness. In particular, costs associated with reproduction are balanced against somatic maintenance and this can result in age‐dependent changes in the optimal allocation of resource to reproduction. Changes in the allocation of resources to reproduction with age were considered in the facultatively parasitic blowfly Lucilia sericata (Diptera: Calliphoridae), using biochemical analysis of lipids in the body and ovary, and lipid and protein in individual eggs. Resource allocation to reproduction, measured as lipid content in the ovary, declined over time. This decline was associated with the production of fewer and smaller eggs per batch. The lipid content of the residual body did not change. A decrease in lipid and increase in protein contents of individual eggs over time, although statistically significant, were relatively slight, suggesting that age‐related changes in nutritional allocation to individual eggs were more subtle than changes in egg batch number or size. This study highlights the insights to be gained from considering both biochemical measures of nutritional allocation, and observable measures of reproductive effort, when evaluating how females balance allocation across competing life‐history traits. Future work should explore how allocation patterns might vary under conditions of resource constraint and whether age‐dependent allocation in laboratory flies is representative of that found in wild populations.
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