A novel trade-off of insect diapause affecting a sequestered chemical defense |
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Authors: | James A. Fordyce Chris C. Nice Arthur M. Shapiro |
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Affiliation: | (1) Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA;(2) Department of Biology, Population and Conservation Biology Program, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX 78666, USA;(3) Section of Evolution and Ecology and Center for Population Biology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA |
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Abstract: | Diapause allows insects to temporally avoid conditions that are unfavorable for development and reproduction. However, diapause may incur a cost in the form of reduced metabolic energy reserves, reduced potential fecundity, and missed reproductive opportunities. This study investigated a hitherto ignored consequence of diapause: trade-offs involving sequestered chemical defense. We examined the aristolochic acid defenses of diapausing and non-diapausing pipevine swallowtail butterflies, Battus philenor. Pipevine swallowtail larvae acquire these chemical defenses from their host plants. Butterflies that emerge following pupal diapause have significantly less fat, a female fitness correlate, compared to those that do not diapause. However, butterflies emerging from diapaused pupae are more chemically defended compared to those that have not undergone diapause. Furthermore, non-diapausing butterflies are confronted with older, lower quality host plants on which to oviposit. Thus, a trade-off exists where butterflies may have greater energy reserves at the cost of less chemical defense and sub-optimal food resources for their larvae, or have substantially less energetic reserves with the benefit of greater chemical defense and plentiful larval food resources. |
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Keywords: | Chemical defense Diapause Life-history evolution Trade-off Sequestration |
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