The effect of food quality and time constraints on caddisfly growth and development
Abstract
The fitness of the non-feeding adult caddisfly, Asynarchus nigriculus is largely dependent on the accumulation of nutrients during its larval stage. The energy obtained during this time is then allocated into growth and development for the adult insect. This allocation of energy may be constrained by drying time of the temporary waters the larvae inhabit. We measured the effect of food quality and drying time on survivorship, time to pupation, environmental variables, larval aggression, and the sizes of adult body parts. The results suggest that low food treatments provoke higher larval aggression and cannibalism, thus lower survivorship than high food treatments. Temporary water treatments resulted in earlier pupation than permanent treatments suggesting that the larvae increased their rate of development in order to emerge as adults before their habitat dried. Surprisingly, increased food quality did not result in larger or heavier adults, but did affect male wing lengths. Allocation to certain body parts such as the wings, suggest that food quality may be important for the adults’ fitness.
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