Reaction kinetics of nutrition dependent poikilotherm developmentt

This study addresses the theoretical interactions between temperature and nutrition on poikilotherm development. The model is built upon the theory of a simple enzyme reaction to give the development rate as a function of temperature and nutrient substrate. The nutrient-dependent development model is shown to agree with the observed data for Anthonomus grandis, reared under several diets and temperature regimes. The resulting analysis suggests that three hypotheses need further investigation. These hypotheses include: (i) thermal response to nutrition is significantly different between artificial and natural diets; (ii) differences in development response to natural diets can be quantified in terms of protein content; and (iii) thermal biotypes exhibit developmental differences at the extremes rather than within the mid-temperature region. The implications of the validation of these hypotheses are put forth.