Effects of juvenile and adult diet on ageing and reproductive effort of male and female black field crickets, Teleogryllus commodus

Abstract

How and when resources are allocated to reproduction is expected to differ between the sexes, potentially generating differences in how males and females age. For this reason, acquisition of resources should be an important determinant of both age-dependent reproductive effort and of deteriorative ageing (i.e. senescence). We used black field crickets, Teleogryllus commodus, to test whether differences in diet quality of juveniles and adults determine sex-specific resource allocation to reproduction and whether there are any subsequent effects on ageing. We show that ageing does not depend on nymph diet. There was, however, a significant difference in the rates of actuarial ageing for males and females. Females showed reproductive ageing, whereas male reproductive effort plateaus or continues to increase with age. 4. These results highlight the link between diet, reproduction and ageing and show that differences in resource utilization between the sexes can lead to different patterns of ageing. This is likely to have profound effects on how life-histories evolve in the sexes.