Mating or ovipositing? A crucial decision in the life history of the cabbage aphid parasitoid Diaeretiella rapae (M’Intosh)

1. The reproductive fitness of a parasitoid depends on its mating and ovipositing success. Virgin haplodiploid females can reproduce, but produce only males, and may diminish fitness by producing more male offspring than required. Therefore, females must decide on whether to mate or oviposit first. 2. This study was conducted to assess the mating versus ovipositing decision and its impact on the reproductive fitness of Diaeretiella rapae (Hymenoptera: Aphididae), an endoparasitoid of the cabbage aphid Brevicoryne brassicae (Hemiptera: Aphididae). 3. When newly emerged females were given a choice between mating and ovipositing, about 62% of D. rapae females preferred to mate before ovipositing. Those females who oviposited before mating parasitised only 10% of the available aphids. After mating, females superparasitised their hosts with fertilised eggs, which resulted in a highly female‐biased sex ratio in the offspring. 4. Mating success was very high (91%) in the presence of hosts (cabbage aphid nymphs) compared with that in the absence of aphids. However, mating success was not influenced by the quality (size) of the hosts present in the mating arena, despite a parasitoid preference for larger hosts during oviposition. The time between pairing and mating was also shorter in the presence of host aphids. The mean number of aphids parasitised and the parasitism rate were significantly greater after mating.     

多年生龙胆属植物个体大小与花期资源分配研究

于各物种花中前期对青藏高原东部高寒草甸6种多年生龙胆属植物花期的繁殖分配和性分配进行分析,结果表明:(1)多年生龙胆属植物的植株个体越大,繁殖投入越高,繁殖分配越低;(2)随着植物个体的增大,对雌性、雄性和吸引结构的投入都在增加,这可保证资源的充分利用,不会因为单一部分的增加而造成资源的浪费;(3)6种龙胆属植物中,有4种其性分配结果与性别分配(SDS)的理论预测一致,即大个体更偏向雌性器官的资源投入,但麻花艽(Gentiana atraminea)和达乌里秦艽(Gentiana dahurica)的性分配与个体大小则没有表现出负相关,可能与其本身具有的雌雄异熟———雄性先熟特点有关;(4)资源在雌雄功能间的分配没有表现出权衡关系,可能是由于植物必须在许多不同生活史性状之间进行资源分配,而不是两两之间非此即彼.     

金沙江干热河谷车桑子生殖枝生物量分配的性别差异

以车桑子生殖枝为材料,通过野外调查、取样以及各器官生物量的测定,研究金沙江干热河谷地区车桑子不同性别植株生殖枝生物量分配特征。结果表明：（1）金沙江干热河谷地区车桑子种群雄∶雌性别比为0.11,极显著的偏离1∶1（P<0.001）,种群偏雌性。（2）车桑子生殖枝的形态特征和生物量分配特征均具有显著的性别差异;雌性植株生殖枝花朵生物量和总生物量显著高于雄性和两性植株（P <0.05）,而后两者之间无显著差异;生殖枝生殖分配具有显著的性别差异（P <0.05）,但生殖枝叶生物量无性别差异。（3）生殖枝生物量大小与花朵生物量、营养生物量均呈极显著正相关关系（P <0.001）。营养生物量与花朵生物量之间为显著正相关关系(P <0.01),生殖分配与生殖枝大小无相关关系。研究认为,车桑子生殖枝营养生长与生殖生长不具有权衡关系,且生殖分配不具有个体大小依赖性,特定生物量分配模式可能是对金沙江干热河谷区资源利用、环境适应的一种特殊形态模式。     

The causes and consequences of variation in offspring size: a case study using Daphnia

Offspring size can have large and direct fitness implications, but we still do not have a complete understanding of what causes offspring size to vary. Daphnia (water fleas) generally produce fewer and larger offspring when food is limited. Here, we use a mathematical model to show that this could be explained by either: (1) an advantage of producing larger eggs when food is limited; or (2) a lower boundary on egg volume (below which eggs do not have sufficient resources to be viable), that is similar in volume to the evolutionarily stable egg volume predicted by standard clutch size models. We tested the first possibilities experimentally by placing offspring from mothers kept at two food treatments (high and low - leading to relatively small and large eggs respectively) into two food treatments (same as maternal treatments, in a fully factorial design) and measuring their fitness (reproduction, age at maturity, and size at maturity). We also tested survival under starvation conditions of offspring produced from mothers at low and high food treatments. We found that (larger) offspring produced by low-food mothers actually had lower fitness as they took longer to reproduce, regardless of their current food treatment. Additionally, we found no survival advantage to being born of a food-stressed mother. Consequently, our results do not support the hypothesis that there is an advantage to producing larger eggs when food is limited. In contrast, data from the literature support the importance of a lower boundary on egg size.     

Do mothers producing large offspring have to sacrifice fecundity?

We artificially selected on egg size in a butterfly to study the consequences for fecundity, reproductive effort and offspring fitness. Correlated responses in either pupal mass, larval or pupal development time were virtually absent. Offspring size was positively related to fitness, but only partly traded off against fecundity. Rather, total reproductive effort (measured as fresh mass), egg water content and the decline of egg size with female age increased in the large-egg selected lines compared to either small-egg or control lines. Accounting for these effects showed that reproductive investment (in dry mass) was in fact similar across lines. Such mechanisms may enable increased investment in (early) offspring without a reduction in their number, revealing a much more complex picture than a simple trade-off between offspring size and number. Substantial variation among replicates suggests that there are different underlying mechanisms for change, rather than any single, unitary pathway.     

Genotypic variation for reproductive characters,and the influence of pollen-ovule ratio on selfing rate in rape seed (Brassica napus)

The variance component for genotypic effects and covariable plant vigor were estimated for pollen production, number of ovules, the weight of the flower without anther sacs and pistil, and the gender of the whole plant, in the rape seed variety Topas. There was a significant effect of the genotype for all measured characters. We did not find any trade-off between the male and female functions. Small plants were relatively more male-biased than large plants. The weight of the flower without anther sacs or pistil was positively correlated with pollen production. The selfing rates of the lines were positively correlated with the pollen-ovule ratio, suggesting that the selfing rate of individual plants is positively correlated with pollen-ovule ratio, thus supporting the “mass-action” model. It is proposed that the observed increase in the population selfing rate during the flowering season for some species, including rape seed, can be caused by an overall decrease in male investment.     

海拔对青藏高原东部毛茛科植物繁殖特征和资源分配的影响

通过野外采样对青藏高原东部高寒草甸上两个海拔间3种常见毛茛科植物条裂银莲花(Anemone trullifo-liavar.linearis)、粗距翠雀花(Delphinium pachycentrumHemsl.)和钝裂银莲花(Anemone obtusiloba)的繁殖性状和资源分配进行了研究,并对植物在极端环境下采取的繁殖策略及繁殖模式进行了探讨.结果显示:(1)3个物种的株高都随着海拔的升高而降低;同一物种的花大小在不同海拔间均无显著差异;条裂银莲花单个种子重随海拔的升高而增加,但虫食数/株、结籽率和种子数/株均随着海拔的升高而减少;钝裂银莲花的繁殖分配、虫食数/株、种子数/株和单个种子重均随着海拔的升高而减小.(2)不同海拔条裂银莲花的个体大小与单花重、雄蕊重、虫食数/株均呈显著正相关,且回归斜率在海拔间有显著差异.粗距翠雀花花期的雄蕊重与个体大小呈显著正相关,但这种异速关系不受海拔和个体大小的影响;钝裂银莲花的个体大小与花期的所有繁殖特征以及果期的种子重/果实均呈显著正相关,不同海拔间个体大小与种子重/果实的斜率差异显著,且与花期各繁殖性状异速关系的截距差异显著.研究表明海拔对植物的个体大小以及种群间的繁殖对策和繁殖成功率有着重要的影响.