Effects of adult nutrition on female reproduction in a fruit-feeding butterfly: The role of fruit decay and dietary lipids

Abstract

It was generally believed that butterflies and other holometabolous insects rely primarily on reserves accumulated during the larval stage for reproduction. Recent studies, however, highlight the often fundamental importance of adult nutrition to realize the full reproductive potential. While the importance of carbohydrates is fairly well understood, the role of most other adult-derived substances is only partially resolved. We here focus on the effects of dietary lipids (cholesterol, polyunsaturated fatty acids) and fruit decay (dietary yeast, ethanol) on female reproduction in the tropical, fruit-feeding butterfly Bicyclus anynana (Nymphalidae). We found that banana-fed control females outperformed all other groups fed on sucrose-based diets. Lipids, yeast or ethanol added to a sugar solution did not yield a similarly high reproductive output compared to fruit-fed females. Groups fed fresh or decaying banana showed no differences in reproductive performance. As we could not identify a single pivotal substance, we conclude that resource congruence (the use of nutrient types in a specified ratio) rather than any specific nutrient component is of key importance for maximum reproductive output. Further, dietary quality may affect egg hatching success in spite of no obvious effects on egg size and number. Thus, any implications about potential fitness effects of different diets need to consider egg (and hatchling) viability in addition to fecundity. r

Enhancing offspring quality or quantity? Different ways for using nectar amino acids in female butterflies

“…This result is in accordance with the decreasing egg mass produced by C. pamphilus females towards the end of their life (Wickman and Karlsson 1987) and the decreasing egg mass with increasing age of several other butterXy species (Wiklund and Persson 1983;Karlsson and Wiklund 1984;Erhardt 2003a, 2005;Bauerfeind and Fischer 2009; but see Bauerfeind and Fischer 2007).…”

Effects of the NMDA receptor antagonist MK-801 on female reproduction and juvenile hormone biosynthesis in the cricketGryllus bimaculatusand the butterflyBicyclus anynana

“…For B. anyana, MK-801 was dissolved in Ringer solution, thereby minimizing any potential solvent effects. Indeed, lifetime fecundity in the control group was very similar to values obtained from other studies not involving injections or applications (Bauerfeind and Fischer, 2005;Bauerfeind et al, 2007). Furthermore, survival data revealed no difference among control and MK-801-treated groups, suggesting that MK-801 is a highly specific compound without any toxic sideeffects.…”

Female size constrains egg size via the influence of reproductive organ size and resource storage in the seed beetle Callosobruchus chinensis

“…Maternal diet influences egg size in many insects. In general, unfed or food stressed females lay smaller eggs than well-fed females (Wallin et al, 1992;Fox, 1993;Yanagi and Miyatake, 2002;Bauerfeind et al, 2007). This observation suggests that the size of eggs is dependent on the capital resource level of females.…”

“…Lipid and protein are very important to produce eggs and not only the amount of nutrient but also the nutrient components might also constrain egg size. Adult females of the butterfly Bicyclus anynana that feed on fresh banana produce larger eggs than those feeding on pure sucrose solutions and a sucrose solution containing lipids or yeast, while the effects of lipid and protein alone were not obvious (Bauerfeind et al, 2007;Geister et al, 2008). This suggests that the use of nutrient types in a specified ratio rather than any specific nutrient component is important.…”

“…Most insects depend on exogenous sources for reproduction because they do not necessarily synthesize sterol (Bauerfeind et al, 2007). Incorporation of yeast has been shown to dramatically increase egg production in various insect species (Chippindale et al, 1993;McEwen and Kidd, 1995;Simmons and Bradley, 1997;Good and Tatar, 2001).…”