Abstract
In the present study the egg dumping behaviour in short (E)- and long (L)-lived lines of the seed beetle Acanthoscelides obtectus was analyzed. Females of the short-lived E line exhibited substantially higher egg dumping than long-lived L line females. We hypothesize that, since cessation of egg dumping enhances longevity, non-dumping females were selectively favoured in the L regime. Our study also produced evidence that the selection regime affected the male's ability to influence female egg-dumping behaviour. The females mated to males from the lines that were selected for extended longevity and of which the females exhibited little egg-dumping dumped fewer eggs. We suggest that in the L selection regime, where offspring produced at the end of the females' reproductive period were recruited to the next generation, selection operated against those males that stimulated female ovi- position in the absence of seeds. This is the first study to provide evidence that selection for long-lived insects results in the reduced potency of male seminal products to stimulate female oviposition.
Highlights
Females of many herbivorous and parasitic insects often display considerable plasticity in their oviposition behaviour in response to resource quality and/or availability (Papaj, 2000, 2005; Jervis et al, 2005)
Female body weight appears to be unrelated to the egg-dumping tendency within both lines, the E females were smaller than L females suggesting that the smaller E females might have a lower capacity to store oocytes, as suggested by Wilson & Hill (1989)
It seems that the changes in egg dumping recorded result primarily from selection for short- and long-lived individuals
Summary
Females of many herbivorous and parasitic insects often display considerable plasticity in their oviposition behaviour in response to resource quality and/or availability (Papaj, 2000, 2005; Jervis et al, 2005). In many taxa, females deposit eggs on substrates unsuitable for larval growth (Messina & Slade, 1999; Parsons & Credland, 2003; Roberts & Schmidt, 2004; Wang & Horng, 2004). This form of oviposition behaviour is termed “egg-dumping” (Engelmann, 1970; Wilson & Hill, 1989). Because there is a trade-off between present reproduction and survival or future reproduction (Stearns, 1992), egg-dumping may be a maladaptive involuntary response of mated females that cannot prevent oocyte maturation when hosts are absent (the egg-load hypothesis; Wilson & Hill, 1989; Roberts & Schmidt, 2004). Papaj (2000) and Hougardy et al (2005) argue that if cessation of oviposition disrupts oocyte maturation, egg-dumping females may have an advantage over non-dumping ones since they can immediately lay eggs when hosts become available
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