The Effects of Larval Nutrition on Reproductive Performance in a Food-Limited Adult Environment

Abstract

It is often assumed that larval food stress reduces lifetime fitness regardless of the conditions subsequently faced by adults. However, according to the environment-matching hypothesis, a plastic developmental response to poor nutrition results in an adult phenotype that is better adapted to restricted food conditions than one having developed in high food conditions. Such a strategy might evolve when current conditions are a reliable predictor of future conditions. To test this hypothesis, we assessed the effects of larval food conditions (low, improving and high food) on reproductive fitness in both low and high food adults environments. Contrary to this hypothesis, we found no evidence that food restriction in larval ladybird beetles produced adults that were better suited to continuing food stress. In fact, reproductive rate was invariably lower in females that were reared at low food, regardless of whether adults were well fed or food stressed. Juveniles that encountered improving conditions during the larval stage compensated for delayed growth by accelerating subsequent growth, and thus showed no evidence of a reduced reproductive rate. However, these same individuals lost more mass during the period of starvation in adults, which indicates that accelerated growth results in an increased risk of starvation during subsequent periods of food stress.

The oxidative cost of reproduction depends on early development oxidative stress and sex in a bird species

“…In this context, the reproduction may here be understood as a more or less stressful state that an organism must face according to its own developmental history (e.g. [23,24], but see [13]). In this case, we hypothesize that an early episode of oxidative stress could programme the organism to better face increased oxidative stress linked to reproductive effort.…”

Nutritional Quality during Development Alters Insulin-Like Peptides Expression and Physiology of the Adult Yellow Fever Mosquito, <em>Aedes aegypti</em>

“…Nutrition is a primary determinant of life span and reproductive capacity in all organisms, from yeast to humans [16][17][18], and its relationship to life history has been studied extensively. Developmental nutrition can have far-reaching effects on adult traits [19][20][21][22][23]. A wide array of insect literature has found that calorically poor food quality during development leads to increased development time, decreased adult weight [23][24][25][26], and reduced fecundity.…”

“…Developmental nutrition can have far-reaching effects on adult traits [19][20][21][22][23]. A wide array of insect literature has found that calorically poor food quality during development leads to increased development time, decreased adult weight [23][24][25][26], and reduced fecundity. However, the effect of nutrient AaILP3 are closer orthologs of dilp3 and dilp2, respectively (personal observation; sequence alignment).…”

The influence of carotenoid supplementation at different life-stages on the foraging performance of the Southern Corroboree frog (Pseudophryne corroboree): A test of the Silver Spoon and Environmental Matching Hypotheses

“…However, what remains poorly understood is how diet and nutrition received at different life-stages (i.e. developmental versus adult life-stages) interact to influence individual adult performance (Møller et al, 2000;Monaghan, 2008;Dmitriew and Rowe, 2011;Butler and McGraw, 2012;Hopwood et al, 2014).…”

“…To date, empirical tests of the Environmental Matching and Silver Spoon Hypotheses have primarily focused on investigating how the quantity of food received at different life-stages impacts fitness-determining traits (Dmitriew and Rowe, 2011;Hopwood et al, 2014). Interestingly, the majority of these studies have provided support for the Silver Spoon Hypothesis (see Ogilvy et al, 2012, Wong andKölliker, 2014), with relatively few studies providing support for the Environmental Matching Hypothesis (but see Butler and McGraw, 2012).…”