Reproductive Strategies in Insects

Omkar,; Mishra, Geetanjali

doi:10.1201/9781003043195

Cited by 4 publications

References 101 publications

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Exposure to a glyphosate-based herbicide does not alter maternal care and offspring quality in the European earwig

Pasquier,

Groutsch,

Verger

et al. 2024

Preprint

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Sublethal exposure to pesticides can affect the reproduction and population dynamics of many non-target organisms, such as insects. Among these pesticides, glyphosate-based herbicides (GBHs) were long thought to have no effect on insects because their active compounds can only affect plants and microorganisms. However, a growing body of evidence suggests that GBH can directly or indirectly alter a wide range of fitness-related traits in insects. In this study, we tested whether exposure to the GBH Roundup© affects maternal care behaviour and juvenile development, locomotion and immunity in the European earwig, an insect commonly found in vineyards and orchards. First, we exposed female earwigs to Roundup at concentrations ten times below, equal to and ten times above the normal application rate (NAR) and then measured the expression of maternal care in terms of egg collection, egg and juvenile care, and egg and juvenile defense. We also measured maternal self-grooming and locomotor activity, and the development time, weight and size of newly produced juveniles. In a second experiment, we exposed earwig juveniles to a control solution or to Roundup and then measured their locomotion, the expression of genes involved in their development (the juveniles hormone pathway), and their survival after exposure to a fungal pathogen. Overall, our results showed no significant effect of Roundup on any of the parameters measured. This finding suggests that direct exposure to a GBH may not necessarily induce behavioural, physiological and developmental alteration in this species. It also calls for future studies to explore the underlying mechanisms behind this apparent lack of sensibility. More generally, these results highlight the importance of assessing the impact of pesticide use and the factors driving potential resilience across a wide range of non-target organisms to ensure sustainable agricultural practices.

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Exposure to a glyphosate-based herbicide does not alter maternal care and offspring quality in the European earwig

Pasquier,

Groutsch,

Verger

et al. 2024

Preprint

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Microbiome turnover during offspring development varies with maternal care, but not moult, in a hemimetabolous insect

Cheutin,

Boucicot,

Meunier

2024

Peer Community Journal

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The ecological success of insects often depends on their association with beneficial microbes. However, insect development involves repeated moults, which can have dramatic effects on their microbial communities. Here, we investigated whether and how moulting affects the microbiome of a hemimetabolous insect, and whether maternal care can modulate these effects. We reared European earwig juveniles with or without mothers and used 16S rRNA metabarcoding to analyse the prokaryotic fraction of the core microbiome of eggs, recently and old moulted individuals at four developmental stages and the resulting adults. The 218 samples obtained showed that the microbiome diversity changed non-linearly during development and that these changes were associated with bacterial biomarkers. Surprisingly, these changes did not occur during moulting, but rather between the beginning and end of certain developmental stages. We also found that access to maternal care affected the microbiome of both juveniles and adults, even when the last contact with mothers was two months before adulthood. Overall, these results provide new insights into our understanding of the (in)stability of the prokaryotic microbiome in hemimetabolous insects and its independence from moult. More generally, they question the role of microbiome acquisition through maternal care in maintaining family life in species where this behaviour is facultative.

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Climate Change, Extreme Temperatures and Sex-Related Responses in Spiders

Harvey

Dong

2023

Biology

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Climatic extremes, such as heat waves, are increasing in frequency, intensity and duration under anthropogenic climate change. These extreme events pose a great threat to many organisms, and especially ectotherms, which are susceptible to high temperatures. In nature, many ectotherms, such as insects, may seek cooler microclimates and ’ride out´ extreme temperatures, especially when these are transient and unpredictable. However, some ectotherms, such as web-building spiders, may be more prone to heat-related mortality than more motile organisms. Adult females in many spider families are sedentary and build webs in micro-habitats where they spend their entire lives. Under extreme heat, they may be limited in their ability to move vertically or horizontally to find cooler microhabitats. Males, on the other hand, are often nomadic, have broader spatial distributions, and thus might be better able to escape exposure to heat. However, life-history traits in spiders such as the relative body size of males and females and spatial ecology also vary across different taxonomic groups based on their phylogeny. This may make different species or families more or less susceptible to heat waves and exposure to very high temperatures. Selection to extreme temperatures may drive adaptive responses in female physiology, morphology or web site selection in species that build small or exposed webs. Male spiders may be better able to avoid heat-related stress than females by seeking refuge under objects such as bark or rocks with cooler microclimates. Here, we discuss these aspects in detail and propose research focusing on male and female spider behavior and reproduction across different taxa exposed to temperature extremes.

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Reproductive Strategies in Insects

Cited by 4 publications

References 101 publications

Exposure to a glyphosate-based herbicide does not alter maternal care and offspring quality in the European earwig

Exposure to a glyphosate-based herbicide does not alter maternal care and offspring quality in the European earwig

Microbiome turnover during offspring development varies with maternal care, but not moult, in a hemimetabolous insect

Climate Change, Extreme Temperatures and Sex-Related Responses in Spiders

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