Ontogenic behavioral consistency, individual variation and fitness consequences among lady beetles

Abstract

The potential relevance of complete metamorphosis for the individual variation in sets of behavioral traits and their fitness consequences in predatory species led to the present study. A set of nine behavioral traits were assessed for the larvae and adults of a pyrethroid-resistant and a susceptible population of the lady beetle Eriopis connexa. The aim was to assess: 1) the average individual behavioral (pheno)types and their within-population variation, 2) their ontogenic behavioral consistency from larva to adult, and 3) whether the observed correlated sets of behavioral traits can impact fitness. The average behavioral type differed between populations. The pyrethroid-resistant population consistently exhibited lower aggressiveness (as larvae) and exploration, but showed higher activity, as well as larva sociality, and sometimes boldness than the susceptible population. Behavioral trait variation was higher among pyrethroid-resistant individuals, particularly during the larval stage, but there was significant behavior correlation between larvae and adults, regardless of the insect population. Reduced aggressiveness, and to a lesser extent intermediate levels of boldness against heterospecific individuals were associated with higher population growth. Besides shedding light on the ontogenic consistency of behavioral traits and their fitness impact, our results also suggest that reduced aggressiveness is associated with predator population increase, but may compromise its effectiveness as a biocontrol agent.

Using life stage‐structured matrix models to determine natural enemy:pest release ratios for augmentative biological control

“…Nevertheless, matrix models have been used previously in various other studies involving applied insect ecology. Some of them include determining the differential susceptibility of aphid phenotypes to parasitism (Hougardy & Mills, ), investigating hormesis and pest population growth when subjected to different sub‐doses of insecticides (Mallqui, Vieira, Guedes, & Gontijo, ) and assessing the impact of insecticides on the population growth of natural enemies (Celestino, Braoios, Ramos, Gontijo, & Guedes, ; Rodrigues et al, ). However, these are deterministic models that do not consider stochastic effects (Clark & Gelfand, ) and thus require establishing some assumptions.…”

Does resource‐mediated stress affect colony personality in leaf‐cutting ants?

“…Similar behavioral patterns were observed in weevils and lady beetles by hierarchical partitioning of variance. 2,13,17,18 The colony should be the unit of analysis in behavioral assessments of leaf-cutting ants, even when different species are analyzed. Colony activity and boldness were important personality dimensions for both subspecies, whereas the relevance of aggressiveness and sociability varied with subspecies and context.…”

“…Factor analysis allows for comparison and generalizations in the behavioral bioassays tracking the effects of individual colonies rather than subspecies averages, reason for its use. 2,13 For more details of the use of factor analysis see Budaev. 15 Correlations between behavioral results before and after exposure to resource-mediated stress were assessed by canonical correlation analysis (PROC CANCORR, SAS Institute), 14 and simple correlation analysis, when appropriate (PROC CORR, SAS Institute).…”

“…Animal personality refers to the consistent and repetitive behavioral acts performed by an individual 1 . Because groups (and not only individuals) are able to perform tasks as a unit, they can be characterized by a set of personality dimensions 2 . Such dimensions were previously proposed by Réale et al ., 3 and used by Modlmeier et al ., 4 to define personality as consistent individual differences in behavior associated with one or more behavioral dimensions.…”

“…Colony‐based behavioral assessments were carried out to test these hypotheses and expectations testing the contributions of species and colonies within species to the recorded variation in behavioral traits assessed. The colony‐based behavioral consistency before and after exposure to resource‐based stressor was tested using canonical correlation, 2 which was also used to test the association between colony behavior and performance.…”