How does the timing of weapon loss influence reproductive traits and trade-offs in the insect Narnia femorata?

• DOI: 10.1093/evolut/qpad046
• Publication Date: 2023-03-21T23:16:13Z
• Authors: E V(Ginny) Greenway; Emily Angelis; Christine W Miller
• Keywords: Investment; Trade-off

Abstract A longstanding goal of evolutionary biology is to understand among-individual variation in resource allocation decisions and the timing these decisions. Recent studies have shown that investment elaborate costly weapons can result trade-offs with testes. In this study, we ask following questions: At what point plasticity different structures ceases during development, if at all? Furthermore, individuals tailor their reproductive behavior accompany structural changes? We experimentally addressed questions insect Narnia femorata, quantifying reallocation across development for first time, using a phenotypic engineering approach. To investigate whether diminishes throughout ontogeny, induced weapon loss range developmental stages examined subsequent testes mass behavior. found relative increased as decreased, implying direct trade-off between investment. However, autotomy postadulthood ceased induce larger mass. Intriguingly, losing while young was associated extended adult mating duration, potentially enabling compensation reduced fighting ability. Our results highlight importance examining ontogeny traits flexibility relationship morphology