Ecological Stoichiometry: A Link Between Developmental Speed and Physiological Stress in an Omnivorous Insect

Abstract

The elemental composition of organisms belongs to a suite of functional traits that may adaptively respond to fluctuating selection pressures. Life history theory predicts that predation risk and resource limitations impose selection pressures on organisms’ developmental time and are further associated with variability in energetic and behavioral traits. Individual differences in developmental speed, behaviors and physiology have been explained using the pace-of-life syndrome (POLS) hypothesis. However, how an organism’s developmental speed is linked with elemental body composition, metabolism and behavior is not well understood. We compared elemental body composition, latency to resume activity and resting metabolic rate (RMR) of western stutter-trilling crickets (Gryllus integer) in three selection lines that differ in developmental speed. We found that slowly developing crickets had significantly higher body carbon, lower body nitrogen and higher carbon-to-nitrogen ratio than rapidly developing crickets. Slowly developing crickets had significantly higher RMR than rapidly developing crickets. Male crickets had higher RMR than females. Slowly developing crickets resumed activity faster in an unfamiliar relative to a familiar environment. The rapidly developing crickets did the opposite. The results highlight the tight association between life history, physiology and behavior. This study indicates that traditional methods used in POLS research should be complemented by those used in ecological stoichiometry, resulting in a synthetic approach that potentially advances the whole field of behavioral and physiological ecology.

Latitude‐associated evolution and drivers of thermal response curves in body stoichiometry

“…In accordance with the first mechanism, also the N content of the low‐latitude larvae increased with temperature, resulting in a slight decrease in the C:N ratio with increasing temperature (Figure S1a in Appendix S3). This matches the recently identified pattern that faster developing Gryllus integer crickets also showed a higher N content and a lower C:N ratio (Trakimas et al, ). Yet, in contrast to the first mechanism, the protein content of the low‐latitude damselfly larvae did not change under warming.…”

Spider odors induce stoichiometric changes in fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster

“…It is important to note that sex differences in body C between the odor stress and the predator stress groups still await an explanation from the point of view of the GSP, as do differences in stoichiometry between individuals of both stress groups. As shown earlier, developmental speed is an important determinant of the concentration of biogenic elements in the body ( Trakimas et al. 2019 ; Krams et al.…”

“…The general stress paradigm (GSP) states that predator exposure generally increases the production of glucocorticosteroids in prey. Predator-induced stress generally causes oxidative stress and induces glucogenesis, which in turn increases metabolic rate, raising the overall demand for carbohydrate-based fuel and shifting the metabolic balance away from the anabolism that produces the nitrogen-rich (N) proteins necessary for growth ( Hawlena and Schmitz 2010 ; Trakimas et al. 2019 ).…”

“…2020 ). Therefore, developmental speed and/or species-specific features of metamorphosis are the most likely factors to be taken into account to explain the observed differences between D. melanogaster and grasshoppers ( Hawlena and Schmitz 2010 ), crickets ( Trakimas et al. 2019 ), and other arthropods ( Van Dievel et al, 2020 ) in their stoichiometry and other responses to biotic and abiotic stressors in the environment.…”

Live fast, die old: oxidative stress as a potential mediator of an unexpected life‐history evolution

“…According to the ‘oxidative stress hypothesis of life histories’, oxidative stress is the mechanism generating covariation between life history traits along the fast–slow continuum of life‐history pace (Costantini , , Dowling and Simmons , Monaghan et al , Janssens and Stoks , Vágási et al ). The underlying idea is that the faster the life history, the higher the metabolic rate (but see Trakimas et al for an opposite pattern) and the greater the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and oxidative damage to biomolecules like lipids (but see Salin et al for a negative relationship between metabolic rate and ROS levels). Increased oxidative damage, in turn, results in a shorter lifespan (Finkel and Holbrook , Archer et al , Bazopoulou et al , but see Selman et al , Speakman et al ).…”