Male Reproductive Traits Display Increased Phenotypic Variation in Response to Resource Quality and Parental Provisioning in a Tropical Rainforest Dung Beetle, Onthophagus c.f. babirussa
ABSTRACT Reproductive traits that mediate differential fitness associated with mate acquisition and fertilisation success are often strongly linked to the overall condition. We investigated the effects of resource quality and parental provisioning in the phenotypic expression of sexual and non‐sexua...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Wiley
2024-10-01
|
| Series: | Ecology and Evolution |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.70421 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1850132386838216704 |
|---|---|
| author | Sean Yap Kai Xin Toh Nalini Puniamoorthy |
| author_facet | Sean Yap Kai Xin Toh Nalini Puniamoorthy |
| author_sort | Sean Yap |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | ABSTRACT Reproductive traits that mediate differential fitness associated with mate acquisition and fertilisation success are often strongly linked to the overall condition. We investigated the effects of resource quality and parental provisioning in the phenotypic expression of sexual and non‐sexual traits in a rainforest dung beetle, Onthophagus c.f. babirussa (Eschscholtz, 1822) from Singapore. F1 individuals were reared from wild‐caught beetles and paired up to produce offspring (F2), and F2 larvae from the same F1 parents were reared on two dung substrates (herbivore and omnivore) in a full‐sib design. Sexual traits displayed greater phenotypic variation in response to dung resource quality, with the precopulatory trait (horn length) responding more than the postcopulatory trait (testes weight). Notably, genotype‐by‐environment interactions between parental lines (genotype) and dung type (environment) affected male body size and horn length only, suggesting sex‐specific variance in plasticity associated with sexually selected precopulatory traits. Dung type had significant effects on all measured traits. Offspring that were provisioned higher quality resource (omnivore dung) had larger absolute and relative trait values. Parental lines only significantly affected female body size but none of the male traits, suggesting an important role of environment and resource partitioning in determining precopulatory success of male offspring. Parental provisioning of larval resource varied with resource quality and brood sequence. Parents provisioned more dung when herbivore dung was presented than when they were given omnivore dung and provisioned more dung for their earlier broods when using herbivore dung but not omnivore dung. This suggests a trade‐off between early offspring fitness and resource quality. We tested directly for genotype‐by‐environment (G × E) interactions in the expression of several morphological traits relevant to dung beetle fitness and documented that offspring with similar phenotypes may result from completely different parental resource allocation strategies. We discuss the importance of studying parental investment on trait variation and its implications on dung beetle ecology. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-89c134a4f3494663a68fcbed46fc071e |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2045-7758 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-10-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Ecology and Evolution |
| spelling | doaj-art-89c134a4f3494663a68fcbed46fc071e2025-08-20T02:32:14ZengWileyEcology and Evolution2045-77582024-10-011410n/an/a10.1002/ece3.70421Male Reproductive Traits Display Increased Phenotypic Variation in Response to Resource Quality and Parental Provisioning in a Tropical Rainforest Dung Beetle, Onthophagus c.f. babirussaSean Yap0Kai Xin Toh1Nalini Puniamoorthy2Department of Biological Sciences National University of Singapore SingaporeDepartment of Biological Sciences National University of Singapore SingaporeDepartment of Biological Sciences National University of Singapore SingaporeABSTRACT Reproductive traits that mediate differential fitness associated with mate acquisition and fertilisation success are often strongly linked to the overall condition. We investigated the effects of resource quality and parental provisioning in the phenotypic expression of sexual and non‐sexual traits in a rainforest dung beetle, Onthophagus c.f. babirussa (Eschscholtz, 1822) from Singapore. F1 individuals were reared from wild‐caught beetles and paired up to produce offspring (F2), and F2 larvae from the same F1 parents were reared on two dung substrates (herbivore and omnivore) in a full‐sib design. Sexual traits displayed greater phenotypic variation in response to dung resource quality, with the precopulatory trait (horn length) responding more than the postcopulatory trait (testes weight). Notably, genotype‐by‐environment interactions between parental lines (genotype) and dung type (environment) affected male body size and horn length only, suggesting sex‐specific variance in plasticity associated with sexually selected precopulatory traits. Dung type had significant effects on all measured traits. Offspring that were provisioned higher quality resource (omnivore dung) had larger absolute and relative trait values. Parental lines only significantly affected female body size but none of the male traits, suggesting an important role of environment and resource partitioning in determining precopulatory success of male offspring. Parental provisioning of larval resource varied with resource quality and brood sequence. Parents provisioned more dung when herbivore dung was presented than when they were given omnivore dung and provisioned more dung for their earlier broods when using herbivore dung but not omnivore dung. This suggests a trade‐off between early offspring fitness and resource quality. We tested directly for genotype‐by‐environment (G × E) interactions in the expression of several morphological traits relevant to dung beetle fitness and documented that offspring with similar phenotypes may result from completely different parental resource allocation strategies. We discuss the importance of studying parental investment on trait variation and its implications on dung beetle ecology.https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.70421condition dependencelarval food qualityparental provisioningphenotypic plasticityreproductive evolutionsexual selection |
| spellingShingle | Sean Yap Kai Xin Toh Nalini Puniamoorthy Male Reproductive Traits Display Increased Phenotypic Variation in Response to Resource Quality and Parental Provisioning in a Tropical Rainforest Dung Beetle, Onthophagus c.f. babirussa Ecology and Evolution condition dependence larval food quality parental provisioning phenotypic plasticity reproductive evolution sexual selection |
| title | Male Reproductive Traits Display Increased Phenotypic Variation in Response to Resource Quality and Parental Provisioning in a Tropical Rainforest Dung Beetle, Onthophagus c.f. babirussa |
| title_full | Male Reproductive Traits Display Increased Phenotypic Variation in Response to Resource Quality and Parental Provisioning in a Tropical Rainforest Dung Beetle, Onthophagus c.f. babirussa |
| title_fullStr | Male Reproductive Traits Display Increased Phenotypic Variation in Response to Resource Quality and Parental Provisioning in a Tropical Rainforest Dung Beetle, Onthophagus c.f. babirussa |
| title_full_unstemmed | Male Reproductive Traits Display Increased Phenotypic Variation in Response to Resource Quality and Parental Provisioning in a Tropical Rainforest Dung Beetle, Onthophagus c.f. babirussa |
| title_short | Male Reproductive Traits Display Increased Phenotypic Variation in Response to Resource Quality and Parental Provisioning in a Tropical Rainforest Dung Beetle, Onthophagus c.f. babirussa |
| title_sort | male reproductive traits display increased phenotypic variation in response to resource quality and parental provisioning in a tropical rainforest dung beetle onthophagus c f babirussa |
| topic | condition dependence larval food quality parental provisioning phenotypic plasticity reproductive evolution sexual selection |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.70421 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT seanyap malereproductivetraitsdisplayincreasedphenotypicvariationinresponsetoresourcequalityandparentalprovisioninginatropicalrainforestdungbeetleonthophaguscfbabirussa AT kaixintoh malereproductivetraitsdisplayincreasedphenotypicvariationinresponsetoresourcequalityandparentalprovisioninginatropicalrainforestdungbeetleonthophaguscfbabirussa AT nalinipuniamoorthy malereproductivetraitsdisplayincreasedphenotypicvariationinresponsetoresourcequalityandparentalprovisioninginatropicalrainforestdungbeetleonthophaguscfbabirussa |