How Dietary Phosphorus Availability during Development Influences Condition and Life History Traits of the Cricket,Acheta domesticas

Abstract

Phosphorus is extremely limited in the environment, often being 10–20 times lower in plants than what invertebrate herbivores require. This mismatch between resource availability and resource need can profoundly influence herbivore life history traits and fitness. This study investigated how dietary phosphorus availability influenced invertebrate growth, development time, consumption, condition, and lifespan using juvenile European house crickets, Acheta domesticus L. (Orthoptera: Gryllidae). Crickets reared on high phosphorus diets ate more food, gained more weight, were in better condition at maturity, and contained more phosphorus, nitrogen, and carbon in their bodies at death than crickets reared on low phosphorus diets. There was also a trend for crickets reared on high phosphorus diets to become larger adults (interaction with weight prior to the start of the experiment). These findings can be added to the small but growing number of studies that reveal the importance of phosphorus to insect life history traits. Future research should explore the importance of dietary phosphorus availability relative to protein, lipid, and carbohydrate availability.

Dietary phosphate affects food selection, post-ingestive P fate, and performance of a polyphagous herbivore

“…Possibly, body P stores compensated for short-term shortages of dietary P. Insects can increase body P in response to higher dietary P; Manduca sexta caterpillars and M. bivittatus grasshoppers had 40-50% higher body P content on higher P foods (Perkins et al, 2004;Smith, 1960), while house crickets increased body P by 10-15% when raised on higher P diets (Visanuvimol and Bertram, 2011). A similar temporal decoupling of dietary P effects has been reported for Daphnia (Sterner and Schwalbach, 2001).…”

“…NaCl content serves as a phagostimulant in Locusta migratoria over a range of NaCl concentrations below the NaCl concentration that supports maximal growth (Trumper and Simpson, 1993). Similarly, juvenile house crickets (Acheta domestica) consumed more of diets with %P values that maximized growth (0.6% or higher) than diets with lower P content (Visanuvimol and Bertram, 2011). There was no evidence for such compensatory feeding for P in this study when measured over 3 days (Table 5).…”

“…Similarly, higher leaf P levels were correlated with faster growth in spruce budworm caterpillars (Clancy and King, 1993), and the growth and survival of several lepidopteran larvae was better on wild and greenhouse-grown plants with higher %P, independent of %N (Apple et al, 2009). House crickets, Acheta domestica, grew and developed faster on artificial diets with a higher phosphate content (Visanuvimol and Bertram, 2011). Schade et al (2003) linked population dynamics of the weevil Sabinia setosa to precipitation patterns as mediated by effects of rainfall on soil P cycling and the P content of its food, mesquite leaves.…”

The Effects of Silica Fertilizer as an Anti-Herbivore Defense in Cucumber

“…Higher phosphorus in the diets of leaf beetles (Diorhabda sublineata Lucas) and tobacco hornworms (Manduca sexta Linnaeus) leads to higher larval mass, growth rates and adult fecundity (Perkins et al 2004;Guenther et al 2011). Additionally, when provided a choice between high and low phosphorus plants, tarnished plant bugs (Lygus hesperus Knight) and crickets (Acheta domesticus Linnaeus) prefer 96 K.L Callis-Duehl et al ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ plants with high phosphorus, suggesting that phosphorus availability may be limiting in these species (Forbes & Rosenheim 2011;Visanuvimol & Bertram 2011). The phosphorus levels in our Si+ plants were similar to the levels found in the plants in the studies by Geunther et al (2011) andVisanuvimol et al (2011).…”

“…Additionally, when provided a choice between high and low phosphorus plants, tarnished plant bugs (Lygus hesperus Knight) and crickets (Acheta domesticus Linnaeus) prefer 96 K.L Callis-Duehl et al ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ plants with high phosphorus, suggesting that phosphorus availability may be limiting in these species (Forbes & Rosenheim 2011;Visanuvimol & Bertram 2011). The phosphorus levels in our Si+ plants were similar to the levels found in the plants in the studies by Geunther et al (2011) andVisanuvimol et al (2011). These previous studies suggest that insects should show a preference for the plants with higher phosphorous levels.…”