Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T17:39:51.544Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

An investigation of demographic and component Allee effects in the Madagascar hissing cockroach

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 April 2022

David R. Bowne Open the ORCID record for David R. Bowne [Opens in a new window]  and
Maria R. Wohlbowne
David R. Bowne*
Affiliation:
Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Elizabethtown College, One Alpha Drive, Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, United States of America
Maria R. Wohlbowne
Affiliation:
Elizabethtown Area High School, 600 East High Street, Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, United States of America
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Population density affects the behaviour and population dynamics of insects, but the nature of that effect may depend on the degree of sociality. We experimentally manipulated initial population density of a subsocial insect, the Madagascar hissing cockroach, Gromphadorhina portentosa Schaum, 1853 (Blattodea: Blaberidae), to determine its effect on vital rates and population dynamics. In accordance with the predicted Allee effect, we hypothesised that intermediate cockroach population density will increase per capita birth rates and cause a higher population growth rate relative to smaller and larger population densities. After tracking 12 experimental populations (three replicates of four initial population densities) for 15 months, we found evidence of Allee effects in this insect. Per capita birth rates showed a quadratic response, with rates highest at intermediate population densities, suggesting a component Allee effect. Contrary to expectations for a demographic Allee effect, population growth rates showed negative density dependence. The proportion of adult females in the population increased with population density, but the mechanism for this increase is not known. Our findings provide evidence for at least one form of Allee effect in G. portentosa and shows a possible connection between subsocial behaviour and population-level responses.

Type
Research Paper
Information
The Canadian Entomologist , Volume 154 , Issue 1 , 2022 , e20
Check for updates
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Entomological Society of Canada

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.)

Footnotes

Subject editor: Chris Starr

References

Angulo, E., Luque, G.M., Gregory, S.D., Wenzel, J.W., Bessa-Gomes, C., Berec, L., and Courchamp, F. 2018. Allee effects in social species. Journal of Animal Ecology, 87: 47–58.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Angulo, E., Rasmussen, G.S.A., Macdonal, D.W., and Courchamp, F. 2013. Do social groups prevent Allee effect related extinctions? The case of wild dogs. Frontiers in Zoology, 10: 11.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Azoui, I., Frah, N., Habbachi, W., Ouakid, M.L., and Nia, B. 2016. Biodiversity and population dynamics of litter-dwelling cockroaches in Belezma National Park (Algeria). Turkish Journal of Zoology, 40: 231–240.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bell, W.J., Roth, L.M., and Nalepa, C.A. 2007. Cockroaches: ecology, behavior, and natural history. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America.Google Scholar
Bouchebti, S., Durier, V., Pasquaretta, C., Rivault, C., and Lihoreau, M. 2016. Subsocial cockroaches Nauphoeta cinerea mate indiscriminately with kin despite high costs of inbreeding. PLOS One, 11: e0162548. http://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0162548.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Canonge, S., Deneubourg, J.-L., and Sempo, G. 2011. Group living enhances individual resources discrimination: the use of public information by cockroaches to assess shelter quality. PLOS One, 6: e19748. http://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0019748.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Charlat, S., Hurst, G.D.D., and Merçot, H. 2003. Evolutionary consequences of Wolbachia infections. Trends in Genetics, 19: 217–223.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chua, J., Fisher, N.A., Falcinelli, S.D., DeShazer, D., and Friedlander, A.M. 2017. The Madagascar hissing cockroach as an alternative non-mammalian animal model to investigate virulence, pathogenesis, and drug efficacy. Journal of Visual Experiments, 129: 56491. http://doi.org/10.3791/56491.Google Scholar
Clark, D.C. 1998. Male mating success in the presence of a conspecific opponent in a Madagascar hissing cockroach, Gromphadorhina portentosa (Dictyoptera: Blaberidae). Ethology, 104: 877–888.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, D.C. and Moore, A.J. 1994. Social interactions and aggression among male Madagascar hissing cockroaches (Gromphadorhina portentosa) in groups (Dictyoptera: Blaberidae). Journal of Insect Behavior, 7: 199–215.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cornwell, P.B. 1968. The cockroach. Hutchinson and Co., Ltd., London, United Kingdom.Google Scholar
Costa, J.T. and Fitzgerald, T.D. 1996. Developments in social terminology: semantic battles in a conceptual war. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 11: 285–289.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gregory, S.D., Bradshaw, C.J.A., Brook, B.W., and Courchamp, F. 2010. Limited evidence for the demographic Allee effect from numerous species across taxa. Ecology, 91: 2151–2161.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Halliday, W.D. and Blouin-Demers, G. 2016. Male aggregation pheromones inhibit ideal free habitat selection in red flour beetles (Tribolium castaneum). Journal of Insect Behavior, 29: 355–367.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Herrando-Pérez, S., Delean, S., Brook, B.W., and Bradshaw, C.J.A. 2012. Density dependence: an ecological Tower of Babel. Oecologia, 170: 585–603.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Holbrook, G.L., Armstrong, E., Bachmann, J.A.S., Deasy, B.M., and Schal, C. 2000. Role of feeding in the reproductive ‘group effect’ in females of the German cockroach Blattella germanica (L.), Journal of Insect Physiology, 46: 941–949.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Inward, D., Beccaloni, G., and Eggleton, P. 2007. Death of an order: a comprehensive molecular phylogenetic study confirms that termites are eusocial cockroaches. Biology Letters, 3: 331–335.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Izutsu, M., Ueda, S., and Ishii, S. 1970. Aggregation effects on the growth of the German cockroach, Blattella germanica (L.) (Blattaria: Blattellidae). Applied Entomology and Zoology, 5: 159–171.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keynan, O. and Ridley, A.R. 2016. Component, group and demographic Allee effects in a cooperatively breeding bird species, the Arabian babbler (Turdoides squamiceps). Oecologia, 182: 153–161.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kramer, A.M., Berec, L., and Drake, J.M. 2018. Allee effects in ecology and evolution. Journal of Animal Ecology, 87: 7–10.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kramer, A.M., Dennis, B., Liebhold, A.M., and Drake, J.M. 2009. The evidence for Allee effects. Population Ecology, 51: 341–354.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Laurent-Salazar, M., Bouchebti, S., and Lihoreau, M. 2021. Gregarious cockroaches. In Encyclopedia of Social Insects. Edited by Starr, C.K.. Springer, Cham, Switzerland.Google Scholar
Liebhold, A. and Bascompte, J. 2003. The Allee effect, stochastic dynamics and the eradication of alien species. Ecology Letters, 6: 133–140.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lihoreau, M. and Rivault, C. 2008. Tactile stimuli trigger group effects in cockroach aggregations. Animal Behaviour, 75: 1965–1972.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lihoreau, M., Costa, J.T., and Rivault, C. 2012. The social biology of domiciliary cockroaches: colony structure, kin recognition and collective decisions. Insectes Sociaux, 59: 445–452.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Luque, G.M., Giraud, T., and Courchamp, F. 2013. Allee effects in ants. Journal of Animal Ecology, 82: 956–965.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Matter, S.F. and Roland, J. 2012. Mating failure of female Parnassius smintheus butterflies: a component but not a demographic Allee effect. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata, 146: 93–102.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pan, X., Wang, X., and Zhang, F. 2020. New insights into cockroach control: using functional diversity of Blattella germanica symbionts. Insects, 11: 696. http://doi.org/10.3390/insects11100696.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stephens, P.A. and Sutherland, W.J. 1999. Consequences of the Allee effect for behaviour, ecology and conservation. Trends in Evolution and Ecology, 14: 401–404.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stephens, P.A., Sutherland, W.J., and Freckleton, R.P. 1999. What is the Allee effect? Oikos, 87: 185–190.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Varadínová, Z., Stejskal, V., and Frynta, D. 2010. Patterns of aggregation behavior in six species of cockroach: comparing two experimental approaches. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata, 136: 184–190.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Xu, Y., Chen, S., Yang, Y., and Zhang, W.J. 2017. Development–temperature relationship and temperature dependent parameters of German cockroach, Blattella germanica L. Arthropods, 6: 78–85.Google Scholar
Yoder, J.A. and Grojean, N.C. 1997. Group influence on water conservation in the giant Madagascar hissing cockroach, Gromphadorhina portentosa (Dictyoptera: Blaberidae). Physiological Entomology, 22: 79–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar