Trumbo Stephen T
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut, Waterbury, CT 06702 (
Environ Entomol. 2016 Oct;45(5):1178-1183. doi: 10.1093/ee/nvw114. Epub 2016 Aug 22.
The life history costs of living in microbially dense environments can be high. To assess the importance of these costs for natural selection, it is necessary to know how costs vary with environmental conditions. Adult burying beetles prepare vertebrate carcasses of varying age and states of deterioration as a resource for their young. In the present study, Nicrophorus orbicollis Say females were presented with either fresh or aged (80 h) large carcasses (30-39 g) to examine effects on their lifetime reproductive success (four reproductive attempts) and survival. Reproductive success and survival were also measured for female offspring that developed on fresh and aged carcasses. Carcass age had no measurable effect on lifetime reproductive output or life span of either parents or their adult offspring. In a separate experiment using medium-sized carcasses (22-24 g), the reproductive performance of females in a single reproductive attempt was negatively affected by carcass age (13.9% less brood mass). The results suggest that the costs of using a single older carcass are relatively minor when measured over a lifetime. Alternative costs of using older carcasses and explanations for the complex antimicrobial traits of burying beetles are discussed.
生活在微生物密集环境中的生活史成本可能很高。为了评估这些成本对自然选择的重要性，有必要了解成本如何随环境条件而变化。成年埋葬甲虫会准备不同年龄和腐烂程度的脊椎动物尸体作为其幼虫的资源。在本研究中，向尼可罗粪金龟属的雌性提供新鲜或陈旧（80小时）的大型尸体（30-39克），以检查对其终生繁殖成功率（四次繁殖尝试）和存活率的影响。还测量了在新鲜和陈旧尸体上发育的雌性后代的繁殖成功率和存活率。尸体年龄对父母及其成年后代的终生繁殖产出或寿命没有可测量的影响。在另一个使用中型尸体（22-24克）的实验中，雌性在单次繁殖尝试中的繁殖性能受到尸体年龄的负面影响（育雏质量减少13.9%）。结果表明，从一生来看，使用单个较陈旧尸体的成本相对较小。讨论了使用较陈旧尸体的替代成本以及埋葬甲虫复杂抗菌特性的解释。
