The effect of nutrient stress on development and reproduction in an aphid
1988
Grüber, Katrin | Dixon, A.F.G.
To investigate the influence of nutritional quality on reproduction in the rose-grain aphid (Metopolophium dirhodum, Wlk.), it was reared on barley seedlings of different nutritional quality or starved either during the last instar or the first few days of adulthood. Their reproductive performance was studied by analysing the gonadal status of teneral adults and by scoring the number of offspring. Metopolophium dirhodum was very tolerant of starvation in the fourth instar with most surviving (97%) to adulthood. During starvation the embryos continued to grow but the fat content of the soma declined by nearly 50%. Aphids starved in the fourth instar and control animals matured at the same time and produced a similar number of offspring in the first three weeks. However, the fecundity of aphids reared throughout their larval development on a plant of low nutritional quality was significantly lower. Aphids starved during the fourth instar were able to compensate for their loss in weight by an increased growth rate relative to the controls after transfer to a high quality plant. Early experience of nutritional stress is more important in determining reproductive performance than nutritional stress in the last larval instar. Aphids transferred from a high to a low quality plant showed a high mortality and a lower reproductive output. Thus fecundity was not always correlated with teneral weight but with host plant condition during larviposition. Metopolophium dirhodum showed a very flexible reproductive strategy when subjected to nutritional stress.
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