| Title: | Resource availability as a proxy for terminal investment in a beetle |
| Author(s): | Krams IA; Krama T; Moore FR; Rantala MJ; Mand R; Mierauskas P; Mand M; |
| Address: | "Institute of Systematic Biology, University of Daugavpils, Daugavpils, Latvia, indrikis.krams@ut.ee" |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s00442-014-3210-5 |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1432-1939 (Electronic) 0029-8549 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Terminal investment hypothesis is a longstanding theoretical idea that organisms should increase their reproductive effort as their prospects for survival and reproduction decline. However, numerous attempts to test the terminal investment in reproduction have yielded contradictory results. This study reports an experimental confirmation of the terminal investment hypothesis. It was predicted that immune-challenged yellow mealworm beetles (Tenebrio molitor) are more likely to follow terminal investment strategy when their food resources are limited. Our results suggest the key role of food resources while making decisions to follow a terminal investment strategy. We found that male individuals invested in their sexual attractiveness at the expense of immune response and survival when food was not available. In contrast, the beetles did not decrease their lifespan and did not invest in the attractiveness of their sex odours under conditions of food ad libitum. Our results show the importance of food availability and quality in understanding the evolution of reproductive strategies" |
| Keywords: | Animals Diet Feeding Behavior/*physiology Female Male Pheromones/metabolism Reproduction/physiology Sex Factors Tenebrio/*physiology; |
| Notes: | "MedlineKrams, Indrikis A Krama, Tatjana Moore, Fhionna R Rantala, Markus J Mand, Raivo Mierauskas, Pranas Mand, Marika eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Germany 2015/01/15 Oecologia. 2015 Jun; 178(2):339-45. doi: 10.1007/s00442-014-3210-5. Epub 2015 Jan 13" |
