Little evidence for intralocus sexual conflict over the optimal intake of nutrients for life span and reproduction in the black field cricket Teleogryllus commodus |
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| Authors: | James Rapkin C Ruth Archer Charles E Grant Kim Jensen Clarissa M House Alastair J Wilson John Hunt |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Centre for Ecology and Conservation, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Penryn, Cornwall, United Kingdom;2. Department of Bioscience, Terrestrial Ecology, Aarhus University, Silkeborg, Denmark;3. School of Science and Health, Western Sydney University, Penrith, Australia;4. Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW, Australia |
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| Abstract: | There is often large divergence in the effects of key nutrients on life span (LS) and reproduction in the sexes, yet nutrient intake is regulated in the same way in males and females given dietary choice. This suggests that the sexes are constrained from feeding to their sex‐specific nutritional optima for these traits. Here, we examine the potential for intralocus sexual conflict (IASC) over optimal protein and carbohydrate intake for LS and reproduction to constrain the evolution of sex‐specific nutrient regulation in the field cricket, Teleogryllus commodus. We show clear sex differences in the effects of protein and carbohydrate intake on LS and reproduction and strong positive genetic correlations between the sexes for the regulated intake of these nutrients. However, the between‐sex additive genetic covariance matrix had very little effect on the predicted evolutionary response of nutrient regulation in the sexes. Thus, IASC appears unlikely to act as an evolutionary constraint on sex‐specific nutrient regulation in T. commodus. This finding is supported by clear sexual dimorphism in the regulated intake of these nutrients under dietary choice. However, nutrient regulation did not coincide with the nutritional optima for LS or reproduction in either sex, suggesting that IASC is not completely resolved in T. commodus. |
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| Keywords: | Carbohydrate Geometric Framework intralocus sexual conflict life span nutrition protein reproduction |
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