Female Preference and Offspring Performance in the Seed Beetle Gibbobruchus bergamini Manfio & Ribeiro-Costa (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae): A Multi-Scale Comparison

The search for and choice of oviposition sites are a key step in the life cycle of herbivorous insects. Theory predicts that natural selection should favor the discrimination ability of female insects to select between high- and low-quality oviposition sites. However, correlation between female pref...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Neotropical entomology 2015-08, Vol.44 (4), p.328-337
Main Authors: Bergamini, L L, Almeida-Neto, M
Format: Article
Language:eng ; por
Subjects:
Agriculture
Animals
Behavior and Bionomics
Behavior, Animal
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Brazil
Chrysomelidae
Coleoptera
Coleoptera - anatomy & histology
Ecology
Entomology
Female
females
Herbivory
larvae
Life Sciences
natural selection
Oviposition
oviposition sites
phytophagous insects
progeny
survival rate
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Summary:The search for and choice of oviposition sites are a key step in the life cycle of herbivorous insects. Theory predicts that natural selection should favor the discrimination ability of female insects to select between high- and low-quality oviposition sites. However, correlation between female preference and offspring performance is apparently lacking or even negative in some herbivore-plant systems. A possible explanation for this seeming failure is that most studies have focused on a single factor and spatial scale. Here, we investigated the preference-performance relationship in the seed beetle Gibbobruchus bergamini Manfio & Ribeiro-Costa (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae). We took into account several potential factors affecting oviposition choices and larval survivorship through a multi-level approach. Hierarchical analysis that controlled for the non-independence of observations demonstrated that oviposition site choices were not related to the factors that most influenced larval survivorship. The apparent effects of other pod-feeding herbivores were greater at the plant and branch scales while at the pod level the most important factors were plant-related variables. Oviposition choices seemed to be time-constrained, meaning that females have little opportunity to further increase offspring performance through additional compensatory choices.
ISSN:1519-566X
1678-8052
DOI:10.1007/s13744-015-0294-5