Bigger isn't always better: Challenging assumptions about the associations between diapause, body weight, and overwintering survival.

ABSTRACT: During the winter, animals face limited food availability. Many animals enter dormancy to reduce their winter energy expenditure. Most insects spend the winter in diapause, a state of programmed dormancy. It is often assumed that diapausing insects need nutrient stores to fuel their many months of basal metabolism and must grow heavier than their non-diapause-programmed counterparts. However, the extent to which food limitation affects body weight during overwintering preparation as well as the likelihood and duration of diapause remains unclear. We limited the duration of the feeding period and thus the total quantity of food available to diapause-destined larvae of the pupal-diapausing flesh fly, Sarcophaga crassipalpis, to test how food limitation affects body weight in the conte

SUBMITTER: Short CA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11148123 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature