Effects of Nutritional Status During Sexual Maturation and Resource Availability on the Resource Allocation of Females in Burying Beetles
ABSTRACT Resource availability should have consequences for life‐history functions and trade‐offs among them because it influences the amounts of resources allocated to different functions. Nutritional status during a key developmental window (sexual maturation) may also have an important impact on...
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2025-01-01
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| Series: | Ecology and Evolution |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.70808 |
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| author | Wenxia Wang Guojun Zhou Wei Zhang Kai Tian Lunguang Yao |
| author_facet | Wenxia Wang Guojun Zhou Wei Zhang Kai Tian Lunguang Yao |
| author_sort | Wenxia Wang |
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| description | ABSTRACT Resource availability should have consequences for life‐history functions and trade‐offs among them because it influences the amounts of resources allocated to different functions. Nutritional status during a key developmental window (sexual maturation) may also have an important impact on life‐history functions and such trade‐offs. However, less is known about whether and how they interact to influence the resource allocation of individuals. Here, we simultaneously manipulated female nutritional status during sexual maturation and resource availability during breeding in a burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides. We then monitored the main and interactive effects of these two factors on somatic maintenance and reproductive performance of burying beetle females. We found that variation in nutritional status during sexual maturation affects the resource allocation of burying beetle females only at the pre‐hatching stage. Poor‐fed females compensated for the initial differences in energy reserves by feeding from the carcass or engaged in terminal investment strategy and invested heavily at the post‐hatching stage. Specifically, poor‐fed females allocated more into somatic maintenance (gained more weight) and less into reproduction (provided less pre‐hatching care) than well‐fed females, whereas they provided a similar amount and duration of post‐hatching care. In addition, burying beetles with different nutritional statuses vary in their response to resource availability. Poor‐fed females allocated more into both somatic maintenance (gained more weight) and reproduction (provided more pre‐hatching care) when bred on large versus small carcasses, whereas well‐fed females tend to work near their maximum capacity and thus show no response to resource availability. Finally, our findings suggest that poor‐fed females did not suffer a future cost in offspring performance. Meanwhile, a large carcass allowed females to produce more and heavier offspring. These findings enhance our understanding of how important nutritional status during a key developmental window and resource availability during breeding is for the expression of resource allocation. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-00dc70374eaa4e2788473c947786cd7a |
| institution | Kabale University |
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| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
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| series | Ecology and Evolution |
| spelling | doaj-art-00dc70374eaa4e2788473c947786cd7a2025-01-29T05:08:41ZengWileyEcology and Evolution2045-77582025-01-01151n/an/a10.1002/ece3.70808Effects of Nutritional Status During Sexual Maturation and Resource Availability on the Resource Allocation of Females in Burying BeetlesWenxia Wang0Guojun Zhou1Wei Zhang2Kai Tian3Lunguang Yao4Henan Field Observation and Research Station of Headwork Wetland Ecosystem of the Central Route of South‐To‐North Water Diversion Project College of Life Sciences, Nanyang Normal University Nanyang ChinaNanyang Medical College Nanyang ChinaSchool of Life Science, Zhengzhou Normal University Zhengzhou ChinaHenan Field Observation and Research Station of Headwork Wetland Ecosystem of the Central Route of South‐To‐North Water Diversion Project College of Life Sciences, Nanyang Normal University Nanyang ChinaHenan Field Observation and Research Station of Headwork Wetland Ecosystem of the Central Route of South‐To‐North Water Diversion Project College of Life Sciences, Nanyang Normal University Nanyang ChinaABSTRACT Resource availability should have consequences for life‐history functions and trade‐offs among them because it influences the amounts of resources allocated to different functions. Nutritional status during a key developmental window (sexual maturation) may also have an important impact on life‐history functions and such trade‐offs. However, less is known about whether and how they interact to influence the resource allocation of individuals. Here, we simultaneously manipulated female nutritional status during sexual maturation and resource availability during breeding in a burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides. We then monitored the main and interactive effects of these two factors on somatic maintenance and reproductive performance of burying beetle females. We found that variation in nutritional status during sexual maturation affects the resource allocation of burying beetle females only at the pre‐hatching stage. Poor‐fed females compensated for the initial differences in energy reserves by feeding from the carcass or engaged in terminal investment strategy and invested heavily at the post‐hatching stage. Specifically, poor‐fed females allocated more into somatic maintenance (gained more weight) and less into reproduction (provided less pre‐hatching care) than well‐fed females, whereas they provided a similar amount and duration of post‐hatching care. In addition, burying beetles with different nutritional statuses vary in their response to resource availability. Poor‐fed females allocated more into both somatic maintenance (gained more weight) and reproduction (provided more pre‐hatching care) when bred on large versus small carcasses, whereas well‐fed females tend to work near their maximum capacity and thus show no response to resource availability. Finally, our findings suggest that poor‐fed females did not suffer a future cost in offspring performance. Meanwhile, a large carcass allowed females to produce more and heavier offspring. These findings enhance our understanding of how important nutritional status during a key developmental window and resource availability during breeding is for the expression of resource allocation.https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.70808life‐history trade‐offsNicrophorus vespilloidesnutritional statusresource allocationresource availabilitysexual maturation |
| spellingShingle | Wenxia Wang Guojun Zhou Wei Zhang Kai Tian Lunguang Yao Effects of Nutritional Status During Sexual Maturation and Resource Availability on the Resource Allocation of Females in Burying Beetles Ecology and Evolution life‐history trade‐offs Nicrophorus vespilloides nutritional status resource allocation resource availability sexual maturation |
| title | Effects of Nutritional Status During Sexual Maturation and Resource Availability on the Resource Allocation of Females in Burying Beetles |
| title_full | Effects of Nutritional Status During Sexual Maturation and Resource Availability on the Resource Allocation of Females in Burying Beetles |
| title_fullStr | Effects of Nutritional Status During Sexual Maturation and Resource Availability on the Resource Allocation of Females in Burying Beetles |
| title_full_unstemmed | Effects of Nutritional Status During Sexual Maturation and Resource Availability on the Resource Allocation of Females in Burying Beetles |
| title_short | Effects of Nutritional Status During Sexual Maturation and Resource Availability on the Resource Allocation of Females in Burying Beetles |
| title_sort | effects of nutritional status during sexual maturation and resource availability on the resource allocation of females in burying beetles |
| topic | life‐history trade‐offs Nicrophorus vespilloides nutritional status resource allocation resource availability sexual maturation |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.70808 |
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