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Boisseau RP, Woods HA. Resource allocation strategies and mechanical constraints drive the diversification of stick and leaf insect eggs. Curr Biol 2024; 34:2880-2892.e7. [PMID: 38897201 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.05.042] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/19/2023] [Revised: 03/14/2024] [Accepted: 05/22/2024] [Indexed: 06/21/2024]
Abstract
The diversity of insect eggs is astounding but still largely unexplained. Here, we apply phylogenetic analyses to 208 species of stick and leaf insects, coupled with physiological measurements of metabolic rate and water loss on five species, to evaluate classes of factors that may drive egg morphological diversification: life history constraints, material costs, mechanical constraints, and ecological circumstances. We show support for all three classes, but egg size is primarily influenced by female body size and strongly trades off with egg number. Females that lay relatively fewer but larger eggs, which develop more slowly because of disproportionately low metabolic rates, also tend to bury or glue them in specific locations instead of simply dropping them from the foliage (ancestral state). This form of parental care then directly favors relatively elongated eggs, which may facilitate their placement and allow easier passage through the oviducts in slender species. In addition, flightless females display a higher reproductive output and consequently lay relatively more and larger eggs compared with flight-capable females. Surprisingly, local climatic conditions had only weak effects on egg traits. Overall, our results suggest that morphological diversification of stick insect eggs is driven by a complex web of causal relationships among traits, with dominant effects of resource allocation and oviposition strategies, and of mechanical constraints.
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Affiliation(s)
- Romain P Boisseau
- Division of Biological Sciences, University of Montana, 32 Campus Drive, Missoula, MT 59812, USA; Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
| | - H Arthur Woods
- Division of Biological Sciences, University of Montana, 32 Campus Drive, Missoula, MT 59812, USA
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Kudo SI, Harano T, Tsai JF, Yoshizawa K, Kutsukake N. Maternal Care under Large Clutches with Small Eggs: The Evolution of Life History Traits in Shield Bugs. Am Nat 2024; 204:30-42. [PMID: 38857347 DOI: 10.1086/730145] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/12/2024]
Abstract
AbstractPatterns in the correlated evolution of parental care and life history traits are long established but controversial. Although parental care is related to large egg size in many taxa, conflicting results have also been reported. To test the evolutionary relationships between parental care and life history traits, we performed phylogenetic comparative analyses using shield bugs (Heteroptera: Acanthosomatidae), in which maternal guarding of eggs and young has repeatedly evolved. Our analyses revealed that female body size affected reproductive resource allocation. Contrary to the expectations of current theories, the acquisition of maternal care was associated with small eggs, large clutches, and large egg resource allocation. There was a greater trade-off between egg size and clutch size in caring species than in noncaring species. Egg and hatchling developmental rates were not correlated with egg size but were slower in caring species than in noncaring species. Analyses of evolutionary transitions suggest that the establishment of large clutches, small eggs, and large egg resource allocation preceded the evolution of maternal care. To our knowledge, this is the first study clarifying the evolution of parental care linked with small eggs in invertebrates.
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Liu J, Chai Z, Wang H, Ivanov A, Kubelka V, Freckleton R, Zhang Z, Székely T. Egg characteristics vary longitudinally in Arctic shorebirds. iScience 2023; 26:106928. [PMID: 37305692 PMCID: PMC10250164 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.106928] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/13/2022] [Revised: 04/16/2023] [Accepted: 05/16/2023] [Indexed: 06/13/2023] Open
Abstract
Arctic environments are changing rapidly and if we are to understand the resilience of species to future changes, we need to investigate alterations in their life histories. Egg size and egg shape are key life-history traits, reflecting parental investment as well as influencing future reproductive success. Here we focus on egg characteristics in two Arctic shorebirds, the Dunlin (Calidris alpina) and the Temminck's stint (Calidris temminckii). Using egg photos that encompass their full breeding ranges, we show that egg characteristics exhibit significant longitudinal variations, and the variation in the monogamous species (Dunlin) is significantly greater than the polygamous species (Temminck's stint). Our finding is consistent with the recent "disperse-to-mate" hypothesis which asserts that polygamous species disperse further to find mates than monogamous species, and by doing so they create panmictic populations. Taken together, Arctic shorebirds offer excellent opportunities to understand evolutionary patterns in life history traits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jin Liu
- Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, College of Life Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
- Institute of Ecology, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, and Key Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes of the Ministry of Education, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
| | - Ziwen Chai
- Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, College of Life Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Hui Wang
- Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, College of Life Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Anton Ivanov
- Timiryazev State Biological Museum, Malaya Grusinskaya, 15, Moscow 123242, Russia
- All-Russian Research Institute for Environmental Protection (ARRIEP), 36 km MKAD, Moscow 117628, Russia
| | - Vojtěch Kubelka
- Department of Zoology and Centre for Polar Ecology, Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, Branišovská 1760, České Budejovice 37005, Czech Republic
| | - Robert Freckleton
- Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, School of Biosciences, University of Sheffield, Alfred Denny Building, Western Bank, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK
| | - Zhengwang Zhang
- Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, College of Life Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Tamás Székely
- Department of Evolutionary Zoology and Human Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Debrecen, Egyetem tér 1, Debrecen, Hungary
- Milner Centre for Evolution, University of Bath, Claverton Down, Bath BA2 7AY, UK
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Schmitz Ornés A, Ducay RL, Fulmer AG, Hauber ME. Coloniality and development impact intraclutch consistency of avian eggs: a comparative analysis of the individual repeatability of eggshell size and shape metrics. THE SCIENCE OF NATURE - NATURWISSENSCHAFTEN 2023; 110:12. [PMID: 36943536 DOI: 10.1007/s00114-023-01840-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/28/2022] [Revised: 02/19/2023] [Accepted: 02/21/2023] [Indexed: 03/23/2023]
Abstract
In oviparous animals, egg morphology is considered an aspect of the extended phenotype of the laying mother and, thus, can be directly assessed for consistency both within and between individual females. Despite a recently renewed interest in the evolution and mechanics of avian eggshell morphology, we still lack a large-scale, comparative understanding of which egg traits are individually plastic and whether individual consistency is shaped by ecological and life history traits at the species level. Here, we aimed to understand whether intraclutch repeatability per se of different eggshell metrics is an evolving trait that responds to selection pressures from socio-ecological contexts across a diverse group of avian species for which clutch-level eggshell morphology data were available to us. Coloniality, ontogeny, and incubation period had significant impacts on the comparative patterns of relative individual repeatability among two egg metrics (i.e., size and shape), whereas other life history traits (including adult size, clutch size, nest type, migration, breeding latitude, host status of brood parasitism) did not have statistical impacts. Our results also demonstrate that individual consistency has a more widespread phylogenetic distribution than expected by evolutionary contingency across avian diversity. Future analyses should also incorporate the effects of intra- and interspecific covariation in other morphological and physiological traits on the evolution of individual consistency, especially those relevant to egg recognition, including eggshell color and maculation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Angela Schmitz Ornés
- AG Vogelwarte, Zoological Institute and Museum, University of Greifswald, 17489, Greifswald, Germany
| | - Rebecca L Ducay
- Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Behavior, School of Integrative Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA
- School of Forestry and Horticulture, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL, 62901, USA
| | - Andrew G Fulmer
- Department of Psychology, Fort Lewis College, Durango, CO, 81301, USA
| | - Mark E Hauber
- Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Behavior, School of Integrative Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA.
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Stoddard MC. Bird eggs. Curr Biol 2022; 32:R1126-R1132. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2022.07.052] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
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