Abstract
Animals with complex life cycles have traits related to oviposition and juvenile survival that can respond to environmental factors in similar or dissimilar ways. We examined the preference-performance hypothesis (PPH), which states that females lacking parental care select juvenile habitats that maximize fitness, for two ubiquitous mosquito species, Aedes albopictus and Culex quinquefasciatus. Specifically, we examined if environmental factors known to affect larval abundance patterns in the field played a role in the PPH for these species. We first identified important environmental factors from a field survey that predicted larvae across different spatial scales. We then performed two experiments, the first testing the independent responses of oviposition and larval survival to these environmental factors, followed by a combined experiment where initial oviposition decisions were allowed to affect larval life history measures. We used path analysis for this last experiment to determine important links among factors in explaining egg numbers, larval mass, development time, and survival. For separate trials, Aedes albopictus displayed congruence between oviposition and larval survival, however C. quinquefasciatus did not. For the combined experiment path analysis suggested neither species completely fit predictions of the PPH, with density dependent effects of initial egg number on juvenile performance in A. albopictus. For these species the consequences of female oviposition choices on larval performance do not appear to fit expectations of the PPH.
Highlights
A seminal goal of ecology is to identify rules that determine the composition of a community in a specific place, at a specific time
For Culex quinquefasciatus, there was no effect of volume on larval survival (F7, 23 = 1.84, P = 0.147), the number of egg rafts did vary (F7, 21 = 3.23, P = 0.017)
Animals that possess complex life cycles with separate adult and juvenile habitats face a unique challenge in maximizing fitness, as females must possess traits that allow them to accurately assess the quality of potential juvenile habitats and in turn juveniles must have traits that are consistent with those choices
Summary
A seminal goal of ecology is to identify rules that determine the composition of a community in a specific place, at a specific time. Such traits are often considered to be used to optimize fitness under the preference–performance hypothesis (or optimal oviposition theory). This hypothesis states that organisms lacking parental care would be expected to place their eggs in the most suitable location for their offspring, and selection should favor oviposition behavior that optimizes offspring performance [5, 6]. Choices made by females are not the sole mechanism that explain species distribution patterns, as survival of juveniles may vary across sites and can even be at odds with maternal choices. Female oviposition choice and larval survival do not always match (e.g., [10])
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