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Greater costs of inducible behavioural defences at cooler temperatures in larvae of the mosquito, Aedes notoscriptus

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Abstract

The evolutionary maintenance of inducible defences is governed by the costs and benefits of the defensive traits. The defensive traits should increase the chances of survival in the presence of predators, but be costly in their absence. The costs and benefits of inducible defensive traits can be influenced by environmental conditions, which subsequently affect the ability of prey to induce those defensive traits. We examine how temperature affects the costs of behavioural defences in larval mosquitoes, Aedes notoscriptus, which reduce activity in the presence of predator cues to limit detectability. The costs of reducing activity could either be exacerbated at warmer temperatures via increased metabolic demand, or ameliorated at warmer temperatures via accelerated development reducing exposure time. We compared life history traits of A. notoscriptus reared in control conditions to those exposed to predation cues as larvae at 18, 23 and 28 °C. Larvae reared in predation cues reduced activity, grew and developed slower and emerged later and smaller. While the reduction in activity increased with temperature, the negative effects on life history of A. notoscriptus were greatest at the coolest temperature. Our results show that the costs of inducible defences in A. notoscriptus are temperature dependent. This work suggests that variation in the thermal environment may have a strong influence on the dynamics of predator–prey interactions and the evolutionary maintenance of plasticity of defensive traits in natural populations.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Leslie Alton, Ben Barth, Candice Bywater and Sean Fitzgibbon for assistance in the laboratory and Kay Marshall for assistance with colonisation of mosquitoes. All experiments were done in accordance with the guidelines of The University of Queensland Animal Ethics and Welfare Committee (Permit number: SBS/287/09/ARC) and Medical Research Ethics committee (Approval number: 2009001078). Fish were collected in accordance with the Queensland Government Fisheries Act 1994 (Permit number: 95992). This project was partially funded by a research grant from the Ecological Society of Australia. VU was supported by Australian Research Council Linkage Grant.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Integrative Ecology Lab, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Brisbane, 4072, Australia

    Vincent O. van Uitregt & Robbie S. Wilson

  2. Mosquito Control Laboratory, Queensland Institute of Medical Research, Brisbane, 4029, Australia

    Timothy P. Hurst

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  1. Vincent O. van Uitregt
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  2. Timothy P. Hurst
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  3. Robbie S. Wilson
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Correspondence to Vincent O. van Uitregt.

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van Uitregt, V.O., Hurst, T.P. & Wilson, R.S. Greater costs of inducible behavioural defences at cooler temperatures in larvae of the mosquito, Aedes notoscriptus . Evol Ecol 27, 13–26 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10682-012-9576-0

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