Abstract
A resource allocation trade-off is expected when resources from a common pool are allocated to two or more traits. In holometabolous insects, resource allocation to different functions during metamorphosis relies completely on larval-derived resources. At adult eclosion, resource allocation to the abdomen at the expense of other body parts can be seen as a rough estimate of resource allocation to reproduction. Theory suggests geographic variation in resource allocation to the abdomen, but there are currently no empirical data on it. We measured resource allocation to the abdomen at adult eclosion in four geometrid moths along a latitudinal gradient. Resource (total dry material, carbon, nitrogen) allocation to the abdomen showed positive allometry with body size. We found geographic variation in resource allocation to the abdomen in each species, and this variation was independent of allometry in three species. Geographic variation in resource allocation to the abdomen was complex. Resource allocation to the abdomen was relatively high in partially bivoltine populations in two species, which fits theoretical predictions, but the overall support for theory is weak. This study indicates that the geographic variation in resource allocation to the abdomen is not an allometric consequence of geographic variation in resource acquisition (i.e., body size). Thus, there is a component of resource allocation that can evolve independently of resource acquisition. Our results also suggest that there may be intraspecific variation in the degree of capital versus income breeding.
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Acknowledgments
We thank W. Blanckenhorn, H. Kokko, M. Mutanen, K. Ronkainen, J. Oksanen, H. Pöykkö, T. Tammaru, and two anonymous reviewers for commenting on an earlier version of this manuscript. We are grateful to H. Pöykkö for help both in the field and in the lab, H. Huiskonen for help in rearing the larvae, M. Mutanen for providing us with some moths, J. Oksanen for processing the climate data, T. Pakonen for help in the elemental analysis, M. A. Jervis for proposing the protein and lipid analyses and giving instructions for them, and M.-L. Martimo-Halmetoja and M. Orreveteläinen for help in the protein and lipid analyses. The study was financed by the Ella and Georg Ehrnrooth foundation (grants to SMK and PV), Societas pro Fauna et Flora Fennica (SMK), Societas Biologica Fennica Vanamo (SMK), the Jenny and Antti Wihuri foundation (SMK), the Finnish Cultural Foundation (PV), and the Oskar Öflund foundation (PV). All Finland’s guidelines and legal requirements for the use of animals in research were followed.
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Communicated by: Sven Thatje
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Kivelä, S.M., Välimäki, P., Carrasco, D. et al. Geographic variation in resource allocation to the abdomen in geometrid moths. Naturwissenschaften 99, 607–616 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-012-0940-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-012-0940-2