Consequences of individual size variation for survival of an insect herbivore: an analytical model and experimental field testing using the red-legged grasshopper

Filin, Ido; Schmitz, Oswald J.; Ovadia, Ofer

doi:10.1665/1082-6467-17.2.283

Cited by 4 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…Body size and mass in crickets are positively correlated with fecundity and desiccation resistance [ 23 , 51 , 59 ]. Further, female crickets prefer larger males [ 60 , 61 ], probably because they are better competitors and tend to occupy territories with plentiful resources and favorable environmental conditions, such as grasshoppers [ 62 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Forest litter crickets prefer higher substrate moisture for oviposition: Evidence from field and lab experiments

et al. 2017

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For insects, choosing a favorable oviposition site is a type of parental care, as far as it increases the fitness of its offspring. Niche theory predicts that crickets should show a bell-shaped oviposition response to substrate moisture. However, lab experiments with mole crickets showed a linear oviposition response to substrate moisture. Studies with the house cricket Acheta domesticus also showed a linear juvenile body growth response to water availability, thus adult ovipositing females should respond positively to substrate moisture. We used a field experiment to evaluate the relationship between oviposition preference and substrate moisture in forest litter-dwelling cricket species. We also evaluated oviposition responses to substrate moisture level in Ubiquepuella telytokous, the most abundant litter cricket species in our study area, using a laboratory study. We offered cotton substrate for oviposition which varied in substrate moisture level from zero (i.e., dry) to maximum water absorption capacity. We used two complementary metrics to evaluate oviposition preference: (i) presence or absence of eggs in each sampling unit as binary response variable, and (ii) number of eggs oviposited per sampling unit as count response variable. To test for non-linear responses, we adjusted generalized additive models (GAMM) with mixed effects. We found that both cricket oviposition probability and effort (i.e., number of eggs laid) increased linearly with substrate moisture in the field experiment, and for U. telytokous in the lab experiment. We discarded any non-linear responses. Our results demonstrate the importance of substrate moisture as an ecological niche dimension for litter crickets. This work bolsters knowledge of litter cricket life history association with moisture, and suggests that litter crickets may be particularly threatened by changes in climate that favor habitat drying.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Forest litter crickets prefer higher substrate moisture for oviposition: Evidence from field and lab experiments

et al. 2017

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“…Both theoretical and empirical approaches have shown how the distribution of individual traits can change depending on resource levels and population density (Grimm and Uchmanski 2002;Ozgul et al 2009) and how population dynamics in turn are influenced by trait dynamics (Uchmanski 2000;Ovadia and Schmitz 2002;Ozgul et al 2010). Theoretical approaches have provided evaluation of model predictions with and without consideration of individual variability (Grimm and Uchmanski 2002;Pfister and Stevens 2003), and a few exemplary studies have empirically investigated demographic consequences of individual variation in traits (Ovadia and Schmitz 2002;Filin et al 2008). Although individual variation has been shown to influence several aspects of population dynamics, the ability of a trait-based demographic approach to predict a population's response to perturbations has yet to be tested empirically.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Earlier PSPMs accounted for between-cohort but not within-cohort variation in individual traits, which is ubiquitous in nature. Individual heterogeneity is one of the defining features of individualbased modeling approaches (IBMs; Grimm and Railsback 2005), which can easily be tailored to incorporate individual traits as state variables (e.g., Grimm and Uchmanski 2002;Ovadia and Schmitz 2002;Filin et al 2008). Recent individual-based adaptations of PSPMs (de Roos et al 2009;Gonzalez-Suarez et al 2011) relax the strong assumption of the PSPM framework by allowing withincohort variation in individual traits.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Population Responses to Perturbations: The Importance of Trait-Based Analysis Illustrated through a Microcosm Experiment

Özgül

Coulson

Reynolds

et al. 2012

The American Naturalist

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Environmental change continually perturbs populations from a stable state, leading to transient dynamics that can last multiple generations. Several long-term studies have reported changes in trait distributions along with demographic response to environmental change. Here we conducted an experimental study on soil mites and investigated the interaction between demography and an individual trait over a period of nonstationary dynamics. By following individual fates and body sizes at each lifehistory stage, we investigated how body size and population density influenced demographic rates. By comparing the ability of two alternative approaches, a matrix projection model and an integral projection model, we investigated whether consideration of trait-based demography enhances our ability to predict transient dynamics. By utilizing a prospective perturbation analysis, we addressed which stage-specific demographic or trait-transition rate had the greatest influence on population dynamics. Both body size and population density had important effects on most rates; however, these effects differed substantially among life-history stages. Considering the observed trait-demography relationships resulted in better predictions of a population's response to perturbations, which highlights the role of phenotypic plasticity in transient dynamics. Although the perturbation analyses provided comparable predictions of stagespecific elasticities between the matrix and integral projection models, the order of importance of the life-history stages differed between the two analyses. In conclusion, we demonstrate how a trait-based demographic approach provides further insight into transient population dynamics. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. Here we conducted an experimental study on soil mites and investigated the interaction between demography and an individual trait over a period of nonstationary dynamics. By following individual fates and body sizes at each life-history stage, we investigated how body size and population density influenced demographic rates. By comparing the ability of two alternative approaches, a matrix projection model and an integral projection model, we investigated whether consideration of trait-based demography enhances our ability to predict transient dynamics. By utilizing a prospective perturbation analysis, we addressed which stage-specific demographic or trait-transition rate had the greatest influence on population dynamics. Both body size and population density had important effects on most rates; however, these effects differed substantially among life-history stages. Considering the observed trait-demography relationships resulted in better predictions of a population's response to pert...

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“…Examples of this in grasshoppers are the relationship between body size and fecundity [7] or survival [9]. Thus, analyzing large-scale geographic variation of body size in different organisms is of importance in order to understand both the abiotic and biotic factors that may modify it through several mechanisms and the ecological and evolutionary consequences of this variation [2,[10][11][12].…”

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confidence: 99%

Effects of Abiotic Factors on the Geographic Distribution of Body Size Variation and Chromosomal Polymorphisms in Two Neotropical Grasshopper Species (Dichroplus: Melanoplinae: Acrididae)

Bidau

Castillo

Martí

2012

Psyche: A Journal of Entomology

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We review the effects of abiotic factors on body size in two grasshopper species with large geographical distributions: Dichroplus pratensis and D. vittatus, inhabiting Argentina in diverse natural habitats. Geographical spans for both species provide an opportunity to study the effects of changes in abiotic factors on body size. The analyses of body size distribution in both species revealed a converse Bergmannian pattern: body size is positively correlated with latitude, altitude, and seasonality that influences time available for development and growth. Allen's rule is also inverted. Morphological variability increases towards the ends of the Bergmannian clines and, in D. pratensis, is related with a central-marginal distribution of chromosomal variants that influence recombination. The converse Bergmannian patterns influence sexual size dimorphism in both species but in different fashions. Body size variation at a microspatial scale in D. pratensis is extremely sensitive to microclimatic clines. We finally compare our results with those for other Orthopteran species.

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Consequences of individual size variation for survival of an insect herbivore: an analytical model and experimental field testing using the red-legged grasshopper

Cited by 4 publications

References 51 publications

Forest litter crickets prefer higher substrate moisture for oviposition: Evidence from field and lab experiments

Forest litter crickets prefer higher substrate moisture for oviposition: Evidence from field and lab experiments

Population Responses to Perturbations: The Importance of Trait-Based Analysis Illustrated through a Microcosm Experiment

Effects of Abiotic Factors on the Geographic Distribution of Body Size Variation and Chromosomal Polymorphisms in Two Neotropical Grasshopper Species (Dichroplus: Melanoplinae: Acrididae)

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