Trade-offs between fecundity and choosiness in ovipositing butterflies

Jaumann, Sarah; Snell‐Rood, Emilie C.

doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2016.11.011

Cited by 29 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 81 publications

(89 reference statements)

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“…In species where parents do not directly care for offspring, variation in parental investment occurs through variation in resources deposited in eggs or placement of eggs in high-quality locations (e.g. [84,85]). Across all of these examples, we see that the ability of parents to invest in offspring varies.…”

Section: (B) Environmental Variation Can Compromise Parental Carementioning

confidence: 99%

The developmental support hypothesis: adaptive plasticity in neural development in response to cues of social support

Snell‐Rood

2020

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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Across mammals, cues of developmental support, such as touching, licking or attentiveness, stimulate neural development, behavioural exploration and even overall body growth. Why should such fitness-related traits be so sensitive to developmental conditions? Here, we review what we term the ‘developmental support hypothesis’, a potential adaptive explanation of this plasticity. Neural development can be a costly process, in terms of time, energy and exposure. However, environmental variability may sometimes compromise parental care during this costly developmental period. We propose this environmental variation has led to the evolution of adaptive plasticity of neural and behavioural development in response to cues of developmental support, where neural development is stimulated in conditions that support associated costs. When parental care is compromised, offspring grow less and adopt a more resilient and stress-responsive strategy, improving their chances of survival in difficult conditions, similar to existing ideas on the adaptive value of early-life programming of stress. The developmental support hypothesis suggests new research directions, such as testing the adaptive value of reduced neural growth and metabolism in stressful conditions, and expanding the range of potential cues animals may attend to as indicators of developmental support. Considering evolutionary and ecologically appropriate cues of social support also has implications for promoting healthy neural development in humans. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Life history and learning: how childhood, caregiving and old age shape cognition and culture in humans and other animals’.

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Section: (B) Environmental Variation Can Compromise Parental Carementioning

confidence: 99%

The developmental support hypothesis: adaptive plasticity in neural development in response to cues of social support

Snell‐Rood

2020

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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“…In Lepidoptera, the larvae, especially during the early stages, are often sessile, and hence the mother's choice of a host plant determines the conditions the offspring experience, consequently impacting their development and survival ( Jaumann and Snell-Rood, 2017 , Rausher, 1979 ). Accordingly, the preference–performance hypothesis predicts that females should prefer to lay eggs on host plant species that increase their offspring's performance and fitness.…”

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confidence: 99%

Developmental stage-dependent response and preference for host plant quality in an insect herbivore

Salgado

Saastamoinen

2019

Animal Behaviour

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Larval-derived nutritional reserves are essential in shaping insects' adult fitness. Early larval instars of many Lepidopteran species are often sessile, and the conditions experienced by these larvae are often highly dependent on the mother's oviposition choice. Later larval stages are more mobile and therefore can choose their food whenever alternatives are available. We tested how feeding on a drought-exposed host plant impacts life history in an insect herbivore, and whether the observed responses depended on developmental stage. We used drought to alter host plant quality of the ribwort plantain, Plantago lanceolata , and assessed whether host plant preference of postdiapause larvae and adult females increased their own or their offspring's performance, respectively, in the Glanville fritillary butterfly, Melitaea cinxia . Larval response to drought-exposed host plants varied with developmental stage: early larval stages (prediapause) had decreased survival and body mass on drought-exposed plants, while later larval stages (postdiapause) developed faster, weighed more and had a higher growth rate on the drought-exposed plants. Postdiapause larvae also showed a preference for drought-exposed host plants, i.e. those that increased their performance, but only when fed on well-watered host plants. Adult females, on the other hand, showed an oviposition preference for well-watered plants, hence matching the performance of their prediapause but not their postdiapause offspring. Our results highlight how variation in environmental conditions generates stage-specific responses in insects. Individuals fine-tune their own or their offspring's diet by behavioural adjustments when variation in host plant quality is available.

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“…The potential costs in time and energy of choosing particular hosts imply trade-offs between host selection and life-history traits such as fecundity. For example, insects with low fecundity should be more selective because they cannot afford losing some offspring 48 . Future studies could evaluate the costs experienced during host choice by generalists and specialists.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diet breadth modulates preference - performance relationships in a phytophagous insect community

Masseliere

Facon²,

Hafsi

et al. 2017

Sci Rep

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In most phytophagous insects, larvae are less mobile than adults and their fitness depends on the plant chosen by their mother. To maximize fitness, adult preference and larval performance should thus be correlated. This correlation is not always apparent and seems to increase with the level of specialisation, i.e. specialists have a stronger preference for high quality host plant species compared to generalists. The aim of this study was to test whether the relationship between female preference and larval performance was stronger for specialists than for generalists within a community of fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae). A total of six fruit fly species was used, including four generalists, and two specialists co-existing in La Reunion island (France). We estimated oviposition preference through the number of eggs laid and larval performance through the larval survival on 29 different host plants species belonging to 15 families in the laboratory and evaluated the relationship between these two traits. Preference-performance relationship differed according to the degree of specialisation with a strong positive correlation for specialists and no relationship for generalists. These results substantiate the theory that choosing high quality hosts is more important for specialists that are adapted to survive on fewer host plants than for generalists.

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Trade-offs between fecundity and choosiness in ovipositing butterflies

Cited by 29 publications

References 81 publications

The developmental support hypothesis: adaptive plasticity in neural development in response to cues of social support

The developmental support hypothesis: adaptive plasticity in neural development in response to cues of social support

Developmental stage-dependent response and preference for host plant quality in an insect herbivore

Diet breadth modulates preference - performance relationships in a phytophagous insect community

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