Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-15T21:18:44.793Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

How does a xylem-feeder maximize its fitness?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2012

A. Walczyńska*
Affiliation:
Institute of Environmental Sciences, Jagiellonian University, Gronostajowa 7, 30-387 Krakow, Poland
*
*Author for correspondence Fax:+48 126646912 E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract

The current case study concerns evaluation of the life history of an insect species living in a demanding habitat, namely a xylem-feeder Aredolpona rubra (Linnaeus) (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) representing the wood-feeding guild. Growth rate, development time and body size at maturity were studied at different temperature regimes with discreteness of insect growth pattern, associated with moultings, taken into account. Moreover, the temperature effect on reproductive strategy of females was tested, and the general life history was compared with available data within the wood-feeding guild. The results show that: (i) the growth of A. rubra is slow but compensated by prolonged development; (ii) size dimorphism is probably caused by the longer development time of females; (iii) fecundity is at least partly determined by the temperature experienced during the egg-laying period; and (iv) interspecific comparisons reveal that the life strategy of a wood-feeder depends on the niche occupied within the tree, whilst its breeding strategy (whether capital or income) is controlled at a taxonomic level. Control of all the main life history traits at one time provided a unique opportunity to understand the selection pressures on A. rubra species. Moreover, comparison within a feeding guild broadens this context and identifies the sources of heterogeneity in the ‘inside-wood’ habitat. The knowledge so gathered may be applied to pest control in forestry science, as well as to the conservation of rare and endangered insect species living within trees.

Type
Research Paper
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abrams, P.A., Leimar, O., Nylin, S. & Wiklund, C. (1996) The effect of flexible growth rates on optimal sizes and development times in seasonal environment. American Naturalist 147, 381395.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Akbulut, S. & Linit, M.J. (1999) Seasonal effect on reproductive performance of Monochamus carolinensis (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) reared in Pinus logs. Journal of Economic Entomology 92, 631637.Google Scholar
Arendt, J.D. (1997) Adaptive intrinsic growth rates: an integration across taxa. Quarterly Review in Biology 72, 149177.Google Scholar
Avelar, T. (1993) Egg size in Drosophila: standard unit of investment or variable response to environment? The effect of temperature. Journal of Insect Physiology 39, 283289.Google Scholar
Banno, H. & Yamagami, A. (1991) Life cycle and survival rate of the redspotted longicorn beetle, Eupromus ruber (Dalman) (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae). Applied Entomology and Zoology 26, 195204.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berger, D., Walters, R. & Gotthard, K. (2008) What limits insect fecundity? Body size- and temperature-dependent egg maturation and oviposition in a butterfly. Functional Ecology 22, 523529.Google Scholar
Chapman, R.F. (1998) The Insects: Structure and Function. 4th edn, Cambridge, UK, Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
D'Amico, L.J., Davidowitz, G. & Nijhout, H.F. (2001) The developmental and physiological basis of body size evolution in an insect. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B 268, 15891593.Google Scholar
De Block, M. & Stoks, R. (2003) Adaptive sex-specific life history plasticity to temperature and photoperiod in a damselfly. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 16, 986995.Google Scholar
Dominik, J. & Starzyk, J.R. (2004) Wood Damaging Insects. Warsaw, Poland, Państwowe Wydawnictwo Rolnicze i Leśne (in Polish).Google Scholar
Dyar, H.G. (1890) The number of moults of lepidopterous larvae. Psyche 5, 420422.Google Scholar
Ernsting, G. & Isaaks, J.A. (1997) Effects of temperature and season on egg size, hatchling size and adult size in Notiophlius biguttatus. Ecological Entomology 22, 3240.Google Scholar
Esperk, T. & Tammaru, T. (2006) Determination of female-biased sexual size dimorphism in moths with a variable instar number: the role of additional instars. European Journal of Entomology 103, 575586.Google Scholar
Etilé, E. & Despland, E. (2008) Developmental variation in the forest tent caterpillar: life history consequences of a threshold size for pupation. Oikos 117, 135143.Google Scholar
Fairbairn, D.J. (1997) Allometry for sexual size dimorphism: pattern and process in the coevolution of body size in males and females. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 28, 659687.Google Scholar
Fox, C.W. & Czesak, M.E. (2000) Evolutionary ecology of progeny size in arthropods. Annual Review of Entomology 45, 341369.Google Scholar
Gotthard, K. (2001) Growth strategies of ectothermic animals in temperate environments. pp. 287304in Atkinson, D. & Thorndyke, M. (Eds) Environment and Animal Development. Oxford, UK, BIOS Scientific Publishers.Google Scholar
Gutowski, J.M., Buchholz, L., Kubisz, D., Osowska, M. & Sućko, K. (2006) Chrząszcze saproksyliczne jako wskaźnik odkształceń ekosystemów leśnych borów sosnowych. Leśne Prace Badawcze 4, 101144 (in Polish).Google Scholar
Haack, R.A. & Slansky, F. Jr. (1987) Nutritional ecology of wood-feeding Coleoptera, Lepidoptera and Hymenoptera. pp. 449486in Slansky, F. Jr. & Rodriguez, J.G. (Eds) NutritionalEecology of Insects, Mites, Spiders and Related Invertebrates. London, UK, John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Honĕk, A. (1993) Intraspecific variation in body size and fecundity in insects: a general relationship. Oikos 66, 483492.Google Scholar
Javoiš, J. & Tammaru, T. (2004) Reproductive decisions are sensitive to cues of life expectancy: the case of a moth. Animal Behaviour 68, 249255.Google Scholar
Kato, K., Yamada, H. & Shibata, E. (2000) Role of female adult size in reproductive fitness of Semanotus japonicus (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae). Applied Entomology and Zoology 35, 327331.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keena, M.A. (2002) Anoplophora glabripennis (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) fecundity and longevity under laboratory conditions: comparison of populations from New York and Illinois on Acer saccharum. Environmental Entomology 31, 490498.Google Scholar
Klingenberg, C.P. & Spence, J.R. (1997) On the role of body size for life-history evolution. Ecological Entomology 22, 5568.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Linsley, E.G. (1959) Ecology of Cerambycidae. Annual Review of Entomology 4, 99138.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nylin, S. & Gotthard, K. (1998) Plasticity in life-history traits. Annual Review of Entomology 43, 6383.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shibata, E. (1987) Oviposition schedules, survivorship curves, and mortality factors within trees of two cerambycid beetles (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae), the Japanese pine sawyer, Monochamus alternatus Hope, and sugi bark borer, Semanotus japonicus Lacordaire. Researches on Population Ecology 29, 347367.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, C.C. & Fretwell, S.D. (1974) The optimal balance between size and number of offspring. American Naturalist 108, 499506.Google Scholar
Smith, M.T., Bancroft, J. & Tropp, J. (2002) Age-specific fecundity of Anoplophora glabripennis (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) on three tree species infested in the United States. Environmental Entomology 31, 7683.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stearns, S.C. (1992) The Evolution of Life Histories. Oxford, UK, Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Stern, D. (2001) Body size evolution: how to evolve a mammoth moth. Current Biology 11, R917R919.Google Scholar
Stillwell, R.C. & Fox, C.W. (2005) Complex patterns of phenotypic plasticity: interactive effects of temperature during rearing and oviposition. Ecology 86, 924934.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Suliński, J. (1981) Zarys klimatu, rzeźby terenu i stosunki wodne w Puszczy Niepołomickiej. pp. 2569in Kleczkowski, A.S. (Ed) Wartości Srodowiska Przyrodniczego Puszczy Niepołomickiej i Zagadnienia jej Ochrony. Krakow, Poland, Studia Ośrodka Dokumentacji Fizjograficznej 9 (in Polish).Google Scholar
Tammaru, T. (1998) Determination of adult size in a folivorous moth: constraints at instar level? Ecological Entomology 23, 8089.Google Scholar
Tammaru, T. & Esperk, T. (2007) Growth allometry of immature insects: larvae do not grow exponentially. Functional Ecology 21, 10991105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tammaru, T. & Haukioja, E. (1996) Capital breeders and income breeders among Lepidoptera – consequences in population dynamics. Oikos 77, 561564.Google Scholar
Togashi, K. (2007) Lifetime fecundity and female body size in Paraglenea fortunei (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae). Applied Entomology and Zoology 42, 549556.Google Scholar
Walczyńska, A. (2007) Energy budget of wood-feeding larvae of Corymbia rubra (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae). European Journal of Entomology 104, 181185.Google Scholar
Walczyńska, A. (2008a) Female reproductive strategy in the longhorned beetle Corymbia rubra (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae). Norwegian Journal of Entomology 55, 2530.Google Scholar
Walczyńska, A. (2008b) Energy budget of wood-feeding larvae of Corymbia rubra (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) (vol. 104, pp. 181, 2007). Errata. European Journal of Entomology 105, 952952.Google Scholar
Walczyńska, A. (2009) Bioenergetic strategy of a xylem-feeder. Journal of Insect Physiology 55, 11071117.Google Scholar
Walczyńska, A. (2010) Is wood safe for its inhabitants? Bulletin of Entomological Research 100, 461465.Google Scholar
Walczyńska, A., Dańko, M. & Kozłowski, J. (2010) The considerable variability of adult size in wood-feeders is optimal. Ecological Entomology 35, 1624.Google Scholar
Waldbauer, G.P. (1968) The consumption and utilization of food by insects. Advances in Insect Physiology 5, 229289.Google Scholar
Winkler, D.W. & Wallin, K. (1987) Offspring size and number: a life history model linking effort per offspring and total effort. American Naturalist 129, 708720.Google Scholar
Zhou, Z. & Togashi, K. (2006) Oviposition and larval performance of Monochamus alternatus (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) on the Japanese cedar Cryptomeria japonica. Journal of Forest Research 11, 3540.Google Scholar