Effect of developmental temperatures on Aphidius colemani host-foraging behavior at high temperature

Abstract

Temperatures experienced by insects during their adult life often differ from developmental temperatures. Yet, developmental thermal acclimation can play an important role in shaping physiological, morphological, and behavioral traits at the adult stage. We explored how three rearing temperatures (10, 20, and 28°C) affected host-foraging behaviors and associated traits under warm conditions in the parasitoid Aphidius colemani, a key model in behavioral ecology and an important natural enemy of aphids. Developmental time was longer at lower temperatures, resulting in bigger emerging parasitoids, with higher egg-loads. Parasitism rates, emergence rates, and parasitoid survival (once placed at high temperature) were the highest for parasitoids developed at 20°C. When exposed to 28°C, the expression of all behavioral items (time spent walking searching for hosts, number of antennal and ovipositor contacts with hosts) was higher for parasitoids reared at 20°C, followed by those reared at 10°C, then those reared at 28°C. Finally, we showed that parasitoid residence time on aphid patches was determined by both developmental temperatures and the number of host encounter without oviposition, representative of the resource quality. We revealed that developing at 28°C did not lead to increased adult performance at this temperature, probably because of complex interactions and trade-offs between developmental costs at high temperature and optimal foraging behaviors (e.g., parasitoid size and host-handling capacities). Our results strengthen the idea that thermal developmental plasticity may play an important role in insect behavioral responses to varying temperatures, and is important to consider in the context of climate change.