Larval cannibalism, time constraints, and adult fitness in caddisflies that inhabit temporary wetlands
Persistent URL
Author(s)
Wissinger, Scott A.
Steinmetz, Jeff
Alexander, J. Scott
Brown, Wendy S.
Date Issued
October 3, 2003
Abstract
The fitness of non-feeding adult insects depends on energy accumulated during the larval stage. Larvae of the caddisfly Asynarchus nigriculus primarily feed on plant detritus, but supplement their diet with animal material obtained through cannibalism. Habitat drying constrains development in many populations of this species, and we hypothesized that cannibalism should accelerate development to facilitate timely metamorphosis. We manipulated larval diets in a field experiment by supplementing detritus with animal material, and in a laboratory experiment by varying animal material and detritus quality (conditioned vs unconditioned). We measured the effects of dietary manipulation on larval and pupal growth and development, the timing of metamorphosis, and adult fitness correlates. The results of the laboratory experiment suggest that this species can metamorphose with a detritus-only diet, but development is extremely protracted. In the field experiment, individuals with animal material in their diet had higher larval survival, shorter larval and pupal development times, and earlier emergence dates (7–10 days), than those without a supplement. This delay in emergence should have important effects on survival in natural populations where the difference between desiccation and successful emergence can be only a few days. Dietary supplementation also affected adult body mass (30–40% increase), female fecundity (30% more eggs), and proportional allocation to different adult body parts. Our results are consistent with recent growth-development models that predict coupled (earlier emergence and larger adults) rather than tradeoff responses (earlier emergence and smaller adults) to pre-threshold manipulation of larval diets. Many detritivorous aquatic insects supplement their diets with animal material, and our data provide evidence that this supplementation can have strong effects on fitness. This type of dietary supplementation should be especially important for taxa that do not feed as adults, and in temporary habitats that impose time constraints on larval development.
Journal
Oecologia
Department
Biology
Citation
Wissinger, S., Steinmetz, J., Alexander, J.S. et al. (2004). Larval cannibalism, time constraints, and adult fitness in caddisflies that inhabit temporary wetlands. Oecologia 138(1): 39-47. doi. 10.1007/s00442-003-1397-y
Publisher
Springer-Verlag
Version of Article
Final manuscript post peer review, without publisher's formatting or copy
editing (postprint)
DOI
10.1007/s00442-003-1397-y
ISSN
e1432-1939
0029-8549
Rights
This article was selected and published in Oecologia © 2003 Wissinger, Steinmetz, Alexander, and Brown. All rights reserved.
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