Abstract
Dyadic contests for possession of resources occur across a wide range of animal taxa, with contest outcome often being heavily influenced by the energetic reserves of the competitors. The majority of studied parasitoid wasps lack de novo lipogenesis, with adult lipid reserves being limited to those acquired throughout larval development. Carbohydrate- and lipid-rich adult diets can increase adult parasitoid lifespan and fecundity by potentially acting as a maintenance energy store. However, the effects of such diets on fat reserve compositions and some aspects of parasitoid behaviour contest outcome dynamics have not been examined. This study assesses the effect of a carbohydrate rich diet (honey) on the longevity, metabolic state and contest performance of Goniozus legneri, a bethylid wasp. The longevity of honey-fed diet adults was typically more than twice that of starved wasps. Compared to similarly-aged starved wasps, honey feeding increased concentrations of common haemolymph sugars and amino acids in a 3-day old and 7-day old wasps, and higher concentrations of stored lipid in7-day old wasps. However, nutritional status did not affect the outcome of dyadic contests over host possession when both contestants were either 3 days or 7 days old. While contest dynamics outcome may be unaffected by diet, it remains possible that an enhancing effect of feeding on contest ability is matched by an effect of higher value being placed on winning by starved wasps.
Highlights
Dyadic contests for possession of indivisible resources are of longstanding and ongoing interest as they occur across a wide range of animal taxa and have provided key examples for the gametheoretic approach to understanding behavioural evolution (Maynard Smith and Price, 1973; Hardy and Briffa, 2013)
PE, phosphoethanolamine; PC, phosphatidylcholine; DG, diacylglyceride; TG, triacylglyceride. aNegative fold changes indicate metabolites that were more abundant in honey-fed wasps; positive fold changes indicate metabolites that were more abundant in starved wasps
Increased aggression in contests between two starved wasps compared to two honey-fed wasps may indicate that starved wasps value hosts more greatly, while higher aggression among fed wasps may indicate that diet affects RHP, and both influences may interact with female age
Summary
Dyadic contests for possession of indivisible resources are of longstanding and ongoing interest as they occur across a wide range of animal taxa and have provided key examples for the gametheoretic approach to understanding behavioural evolution (Maynard Smith and Price, 1973; Hardy and Briffa, 2013). Two major predictors of contest outcomes are the competitive ability of individuals (resource holding potential, RHP) and the value (V) that contestants place on possession of the resource (Maynard Smith and Parker, 1976; Kokko, 2013): each of these may be affected by the nutritional status of the contestants. G. legneri exhibits aggressive post-oviposition brood guarding behaviour, during which time a female may spend several days with each host both prior and post oviposition (Hardy et al, 2013). A number of prior studies have shown that contest outcomes are affected by components of both RHP (contestant body size) and V (host size and nutritional quality, contestant age and reproductive status) (reviewed in Hardy et al, 2013). Effects of adult nutrition on Goniozus contest performance have, not been examined
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