| Title: | Spider mite mothers adjust reproduction and sons' alternative reproductive tactics to immigrating alien conspecifics |
| Author(s): | Schausberger P; Gotoh T; Sato Y; |
| Address: | "Sugadaira Research Station, Mountain Science Center, University of Tsukuba, Ueda, Nagano, Japan. Department of Behavioural Biology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria. Faculty of Agriculture, Ibaraki University, Ami, Ibaraki, Japan. Faculty of Economics, Ryutsu Keizai University, Ryugasaki, Ibaraki, Japan" |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 2054-5703 (Print) 2054-5703 (Electronic) 2054-5703 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Maternal effects on environmentally induced alternative reproductive tactics (ARTs) are poorly understood but likely to be selected for if mothers can reliably predict offspring environments. We assessed maternal effects in two populations (Y and G) of herbivorous arrhenotokous spider mites Tetranychus urticae, where males conditionally express fighting and sneaking tactics in male-male combat and pre-copulatory guarding behaviour. We hypothesized that resident mothers should adjust their reproduction and sons' ARTs to immigrating alien conspecifics in dependence of alien conspecifics posing a fitness threat or advantage. To induce maternal effects, females were exposed to own or alien socio-environments and mated to own or alien males. Across maternal and sons' reproductive traits, the maternal socio-environment induced stronger effects than the maternal mate, and G-mothers responded more strongly to Y-influence than vice versa. G-socio-environments and Y-mates enhanced maternal egg production in both populations. Maternal exposure to G-socio-environments demoted, yet maternal Y-mates promoted, guarding occurrence and timing by sons. Sneakers guarded earlier than fighters in Y-environments, whereas the opposite happened in G-environments. The endosymbiont Cardinium, present in G, did not exert any classical effect but may have played a role via the shared plant. Our study highlights interpopulation variation in immediate and anticipatory maternal responses to immigrants" |
| Keywords: | endosymbionts haplodiploidy interpopulation variation maternal effects mating behaviour parental effects; |
| Notes: | "PubMed-not-MEDLINESchausberger, Peter Gotoh, Tetsuo Sato, Yukie eng England 2019/12/13 R Soc Open Sci. 2019 Nov 27; 6(11):191201. doi: 10.1098/rsos.191201. eCollection 2019 Nov" |
