Organisms have limited resources to devote to competing physiological needs. During the pre-reproductive period biparental burying beetles (Silphidae: Nicrophorus) must both prepare for a rapid response to the breeding stimulus (a small vertebrate carcass) and protect against starvation. Females in a poor nutritional state take longer to respond to the breeding stimulus and produce fewer eggs of smaller mass. They also have lower hemolymph titers of juvenile hormone (JH). We employed topical application of JH and JH analogs to test the hypotheses that, in burying beetles, high levels of JH increase reproductive readiness while lowering the ability to survive starvation. Females treated with a JH analog oviposited more quickly in response to the breeding stimulus than control-treated females. Under a starvation regimen, however, JH-treated females survived less well than control-treated females. Maintaining high levels of JH in the hemolymph, therefore, appears to have clear costs and benefits for female burying beetles.
Species 1: Coleoptera Silphidae Nicrophorus (burying beetles)
Keywords: juvenile hormone, reproduction
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