title: Female Preference and Offspring Performance in the Seed Beetle Gibbobruchus bergamini Manfio & Ribeiro-Costa (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae): A Multi-Scale Comparison.
abstract: The search for and choice of oviposition sites are a key step in the life cycle of herbivorous insects. Theory predicts that natural selection should favor the discrimination ability of female insects to select between high- and low-quality oviposition sites. However, correlation between female preference and offspring performance is apparently lacking or even negative in some herbivore-plant systems. A possible explanation for this seeming failure is that most studies have focused on a single factor and spatial scale. Here, we investigated the preference-performance relationship in the seed beetle Gibbobruchus bergamini Manfio & Ribeiro-Costa (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae). We took into account several potential factors affecting oviposition choices and larval survivorship through a multi-level approach. Hierarchical analysis that controlled for the non-independence of observations demonstrated that oviposition site choices were not related to the factors that most influenced larval survivorship. The apparent effects of other pod-feeding herbivores were greater at the plant and branch scales while at the pod level the most important factors were plant-related variables. Oviposition choices seemed to be time-constrained, meaning that females have little opportunity to further increase offspring performance through additional compensatory choices.
authors.affiliation: Depto de Ecologia, Univ Federal de Goiás, 74001-970, Goiânia, GO, Brasil, llbergamini@gmail.com.
authors.forename: L L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Bergamini
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Almeida-Neto
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D001938:Brazil; D001517:Coleoptera / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D005260:Female; D060434:Herbivory; D010058:Oviposition