Macronutrient intake affects reproduction of a predatory insect

Abstract

Prey quality has previously been shown to affect the growth and reproduction of predatory arthropods, however relatively little is known about the specific nutrients responsible for these effects. We tested if the macronutrient content (i.e. lipid and protein) of live prey affected mate attraction, reproductive behavior, egg production and nutrient reserves of adult female praying mantids, Pseudomantis albofimbriata. Females on a high‐protein diet produced more than twice as many eggs as females on a high‐lipid diet despite being fed the same overall biomass of prey. Furthermore, the lipid and protein composition of eggs and the female body was directly related to the diet that females were fed (i.e. high lipid content on the high‐lipid diet). Even more striking was the effect of diet treatment on the number of males attracted to females – only one male was attracted to females on the high‐lipid treatment and 56 males were attracted to females on the high‐protein treatment. Although it is not unexpected that females with more eggs would attract more males, the extreme nature of this difference is certainly surprising because previous studies have shown that females with only a couple of eggs can attract multiple males. Hence, our results suggest that female pheromone production may be affected by the quality/nutritional composition of eggs rather than simply the number of eggs. We found no significant difference in any of the other behaviours measured during mating trials, including the frequency of sexual cannibalism. The positive effects of prey protein content on mate attraction and egg production suggest that praying mantids might be expected to choose more protein‐biased prey in nature or, if prey choice is limited, to have higher reproductive output or population growth in communities dominated by protein‐rich prey.

From earth and ocean: investigating the importance of cross‐ecosystem resource linkages to a mobile estuarine consumer

“…Although we did not find any evidence that salmon nutrients result in more abundant, or larger crabs, there are other potential effects that we did not test for such as increases in adult fecundity, increased larval recruitment success or the persistence of populations in sub-optimal habitats (Marcarelli et al 2011, Barry andWilder 2012). In addition, salmon spawning occurs prior to winter months when crabs migrate to deeper habitats and reduce activity (Stone and O'Clair 2001).…”

Caught in the web: Spider web architecture affects prey specialization and spider–prey stoichiometric relationships

“…The growth and reproduction of predators can be strongly affected by prey quality, with higher reproductive output in terrestrial predators when feeding in high protein (i.e., high N) prey (Barry & Wilder, 2013; Simpson et al., 2015; Wilder, 2011, 2013; Wilder & Eubanks, 2010; Wilder et al., 2013). Some studies also suggest that nonprotein energy (carbohydrates and lipids) may play an important role in predator population dynamics (Simpson et al., 2015).…”

Moving beyond body condition indices as an estimate of fitness in ecological and evolutionary studies

“…The females with high lipid content in their bodies had fed on higher lipid diets. Presumably, this diet had more lipid and less protein than the females needed for egg production, and females stored the excess lipid and did not produce as many eggs (Barry & Wilder ). Hence, females with lower lipid content had higher fitness‐related traits.…”