Do Alate Aphids Produce Fitter Offspring? The Influence of Maternal Rearing History and Morph on Life-History Parameters of Rhopalosiphum padi (L.)

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Abstract
To test the hypothesis that alate aphids produce fitter offspring than apterous aphids, a series of experimental ''migrations'' using good and bad hosts was carried out under controlled conditions. On oat seedlings the apterous offspring of alate Rhopalosiphum padi (l.) reared on oats developed faster, weighed more as adults, produced more offspring and survived longer than the apterous offspring of apterous mothers reared on oats. However, the apterous offspring of similarly reared alate mothers when reared on Phleum pratensw l., a poorer host, took longer to develop, weighed less as adults, produced fewer offspring and lived for a shorter time than the apterous offspring of apterous moths of similar rearing history. In the conversin treatment, i.e. apterous and alate mothers reared on the poorer host (P. pratense), the apterous offspring of alate mothers were more fecund and lived longer than the apterous offspring of apterous mothers on P. pratense but took longer to develop and weighed less. When reared on oat seedlings, the apterous offspring of alate mothers developed faster, weighted more and produced more offspring of apterous mothers. However, their survival time was shorter. It is concluded that the apterous offspring of alate mothers are adapted to exploit better conditions than those which their mothers experienced, whereas the apterous offspring of apterous mothers are adapted to exploit worse or similar conditions to those experienced by their mothers. Analysis of the whole data set revealed that althogh weight is a farily good predictor of initial rates of fecundity, it is a very poor indicator of total fecundity. The best predictor of total fecundity was adult life span. Adult life span was not correlated with adult weight. The relationship between life span and fecundity was common across all treatments. Thus although weight fecundity relationships may differ between treatments, the major factor determining aphid fecundity is life span.

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