Long-term reproductive success is predicted by sexual behavior and impaired by temporary nutritional stress during sexual maturation

Abstract

Nutritional stress during the earliest stages of an animal's life can have long-term effects on its behavior and reproductive performance, but the effects of brief periods of nutritional stress later in life are less well-studied. We manipulated female diet in Narnia femorata (Hemiptera: Coreidae) and investigated to what extent nutritional stress during sexual maturation affects subsequent sexual behavior and long-term offspring production. We show that nutritional stress at this key point during early adulthood can have lasting effects on reproduction, impairing long-term offspring production despite the subsequent return of good nutrition. These results demonstrate that nutritional availability during late stages of development, in young adults, can be crucial to future fitness. We found no effect of temporary nutritional stress on female receptivity to mating or attractiveness to males; although females that were less receptive also produced fewer offspring in the next month. Overall, we demonstrate that even brief periods of nutritional deprivation late in development can have drastic long-term effects, apparently beyond compensation, and despite a good early nutritional environment.

Keywords: Diet; Fertility; Food deprivation; Nutrition; Reproduction; Stress.