Phenotypic plasticity of pre-adult egg maturation in a parasitoid: Effects of host-starvation and brood size.

ABSTRACT: Larvae of parasitoid wasps develop on a single arthropod host, and often face resource limitation that induces a tradeoff between egg maturation and somatic growth. Part of the variation in the growth-reproduction allocation was shown to be heritable, but how the larval developmental environment affects this allocation is not well-known. Detection of life history tradeoffs is often facilitated under stress conditions. We therefore exposed developing female larvae of the polyembryonic parasitoid Copidosoma koehleri (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) to laboratory manipulations aimed to restrict host resources (either host-starvation or high larval density). We compared the females' body sizes and egg loads shortly after adult emergence (<24 h) to those of closely related control females, which devel

SUBMITTER: Keinan Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5901773 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature