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Changes in life‐cycle strategies of Carabus problematicus over a range of altitudes in Northern England
Author(s) -
BUTTERFIELD J. E. L.
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
ecological entomology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.865
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1365-2311
pISSN - 0307-6946
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2311.1986.tb00275.x
Subject(s) - altitude (triangle) , biology , range (aeronautics) , annual cycle , seasonal breeder , ecology , effects of high altitude on humans , mandible (arthropod mouthpart) , zoology , demography , genus , anatomy , materials science , geometry , mathematics , sociology , composite material
.1 Mandible tip length has been used to estimate the age of individual C.problematicus Herbst caught over an altitude range of more than 700 m in northern England. 2 At 100 m the great majority of females laid eggs in the summer of their emergence as adults. The female life‐cycle is predominantly annual and 24% only of the egg‐bearing individuals were in their second year. 3 Above 250 m, most females did not reproduce until the summer of the year following emergence, giving a biennial life‐cycle. 96% of egg‐bearing females caught above 830 m were in their second year. 4 All the males caught during the breeding season at 100 m had emerged within that calendar year and it is concluded that the male life‐cycle is annual at this altitude. 5 Above 250 m, 83% of the males caught during the breeding season were in their first calendar year, suggesting that recently emerged males may inseminate second year females and also that the male life‐cycle is predominantly annual over the whole altitude range studied. 6 At the higher temperatures of the lowland site females not only produce eggs in the year of emergence, they also produce more eggs per individual than at the higher sites. Egg production depends on food intake which involves mandible wear and individuals at the lowland site have significantly higher rate of mandible wear than at the sites above 250 m.