Interactions between ecological factors in the developmental environment modulate pupal and adult traits in a polyphagous fly.

ABSTRACT: In holometabolous insects, adult fitness depends on the quantity and quality of resource acquired at the larval stage. Diverse ecological factors can influence larval resource acquisition, but little is known about how these factors in the larval environment interact to modulate larval development and adult traits.Here, we addressed this gap by considering how key ecological factors of larval density, diet nutritional composition, and microbial growth interact to modulate pupal and adult traits in a polyphagous tephritid fruit fly, Bactrocera tryoni (aka "Queensland fruit fly").Larvae were allowed to develop at two larval densities (low and high), on diets that were protein-rich, standard, or sugar-rich and prepared with or without preservatives to inhibit or encourage microbial gro

SUBMITTER: Nguyen B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6580268 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature