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Differential energy allocation as an adaptation to different habitats in the parasitic wasp Venturia canescens

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Abstract

Environmental pressures are expected to favour organisms that optimally allocate metabolic resources to reproduction and survival. We studied the resource allocation strategies and the associated tradeoffs in the parasitoid wasp Venturia canescens, and their adaptation to the characteristics of the environment. In this species, individuals of two reproductive modes coexist in the same geographical locations, but they mainly occur in distinct habitats. Thelytokous (asexual) wasps are mostly found in anthropogenic habitats, where hosts tend to aggregate and food is absent. Arrhenotokous (sexual) wasps are exclusively found in natural habitats, where hosts are scattered and food is present. We analysed (1) the quantity of energy stored during ontogeny, (2) the tradeoff between reproduction and survival, by measuring egg load and longevity and (3) the host patch exploitation behaviour of the wasps at emergence. Arrhenotokous wasps emerged with more metabolic resources than thelytokous ones, especially glycogen, a nutrient that could be used for flying in search of hosts and/or food. Thelytokous wasps allocated more energy than arrhenotokous wasps to egg production: this would allow them to parasitize more hosts. The tradeoff between egg production and longevity was not revealed within reproductive modes, but when comparing them. At emergence, arrhenotokous wasps tended to exploit host patches less thoroughly than thelytokous wasps, suggesting that by leaving the host patch, they search for food. The results clearly showed adaptations to the characteristics of habitats preferentially inhabited by the two reproductive modes, and suggested a mechanism that facilitates their coexistence in natural conditions.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Annie Heizmann and Patricia Gibert for their help on technical aspects of this work. We would like to thank Isabelle Amat, Marie-Claude Venner, David Giron, Mark Jervis, Jacques van Alphen, Jérôme Casas and two anonymous referees for their most helpful comments on earlier drafts of the manuscript.

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  1. Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Evolutive (UMR 5558), CNRS, Univ. Lyon 1, 43 bd 11 nov, 69622, Villeurbanne Cedex, France

    Perrine Pelosse, Carlos Bernstein & Emmanuel Desouhant

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  1. Perrine Pelosse
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Correspondence to Perrine Pelosse.

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Pelosse, P., Bernstein, C. & Desouhant, E. Differential energy allocation as an adaptation to different habitats in the parasitic wasp Venturia canescens . Evol Ecol 21, 669–685 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10682-006-9145-5

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