Nutritional and Life-History Determinants of Resource Allocation in Holometabolous Insects

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Abstract
In organisms with complex life cycles, potential reproductive effort at adult emergence may be defined as the sum of the proportion of the body nutrient content devoted to reserves earmarked for reproduction and the proportion of expected adult nutrient intake to be devoted to reproduction, and is proportional to expenditure in reproduction. For organisms with similar larval nutrition and survivorship, the ratio of reproductive reserves to soma at adult eclosion is predicted to vary inversely with expected nutrient intake and directly with expected reproductive output of nutrients. These predictions are supported by data from heliconiine butterflies. Variation in the ratio of reproductive reserves to soma at adult eclosion among heliconiine species and sexes having relatively equivalent larval survivorship and availability of nutrients correlates with patterns of expected intake of nutrients and output of nutrients in the act of reproduction. Changes in the ratio over adult life are determined by actual nutrient intakes and reproductive outputs.