title: Information use in space and time: sex allocation behaviour in the parasitoid waspNasonia vitripennis.
abstract: Behavioural decisions require the appropriate use of relevant information about the environment. However, individuals may have imperfect information, imposing a constraint on adaptive behaviour. We explored how information use influences the sex allocation behaviour of the parasitoid waspNasonia vitripennisin response to local mate competition. Optimal sex ratios under local mate competition require females to estimate the number of other females that contribute eggs to a patch. Females rapidly changed their sex allocation in response to changes in the number of females in the environment, suggesting that they are not constrained by how quickly they can respond to new information. Furthermore, females also showed some response to olfactory cues that indicated oviposition by other females, suggesting that such indirect cues may be part of their information repertoire. Both the absolute and the relative size of the patch were important for sex ratio decisions, with sex ratios declining on larger patches in a way that suggests that large patches in effect become more than one patch, with females on larger patches allocating sex increasingly independently of other females. We conclude by highlighting variation among species in whether particular cues are used for sex allocation.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Evolutionary Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh.
authors.forename: David M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Shuker
authors.forename: Sarah E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Reece
authors.forename: Alison
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Aleta
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Graham
authors.forename: Alison B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Duncan
authors.forename: Stuart A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: West
keywords: Nasonia vitripennis; adaptation; constraints; local mate competition; optimal sex ratio; parasitoid wasp; sex allocation