Diet, sex, and death in field crickets - PubMed (original) (raw)

Diet, sex, and death in field crickets

Felix Zajitschek et al. Ecol Evol. 2012 Jul.

Abstract

Senescence is shaped by age-dependent trade-offs between fitness components. Because males and females invest different resources in reproduction, the trade-offs behind age-dependent reproductive effort should be resolved differently in the sexes. In this study, we assess the effects of diet (high carbohydrate and low protein vs. equal carbohydrate and protein) and mating (once mated vs. virgin) on lifespan and age-dependent mortality in male and female field crickets (Teleogryllus commodus), and on male calling effort. Females always had higher actuarial ageing rates than males, and we found a clear lifespan cost of mating in females. Mated males, however, lived longer than virgin males, possibly because virgins call more than mated males. The fastest age-dependent increases in mortality were among mated males on the high-carbohydrate diet. Males on a high-carbohydrate diet showed a faster increase in calling effort earlier in life, and a more pronounced pattern of senescence once they reached this peak than did males on a diet with equal amounts of protein and carbohydrates. Our results provide evidence that the cost of mating in this cricket species is both diet and sex-dependent, and that the underlying causes of sex differences in life-history traits such as lifespan and senescence can be complex.

Keywords: Ageing; Gompertz; Teleogryllus commodus; calling effort; senescence; sex differences.

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Figures

Figure 1

Figure 1

A male (bottom) and a female (top) black field cricket, Teleogryllus commodus.

Figure 2

Figure 2

Gompertz mortality trajectories of treatment groups of males (a) and females (b). Please note that these curves correspond to models fit separately to the four treatment groups (see Fig. S1 for parameter estimates), and do not represent any selected best-fit models. Lines end at realized maximum lifespans.

Figure 3

Figure 3

Calling effort (seconds per night) of males on diet C (a) and males on diet P (b), and of virgin (c) and mated (d) males. Lifespan and age are given in days of adult life.

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