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Male mealworm beetles increase resting metabolic rate under terminal investment
Author(s) -
Krams I. A.,
Krama T.,
Moore F. R.,
Kivleniece I.,
Kuusik A.,
Freeberg T. M.,
Mänd R.,
Rantala M. J.,
Daukšte J.,
Mänd M.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of evolutionary biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.289
H-Index - 128
eISSN - 1420-9101
pISSN - 1010-061X
DOI - 10.1111/jeb.12318
Subject(s) - biology , attractiveness , mealworm , immune system , basal metabolic rate , zoology , ecology , immunology , endocrinology , larva , psychology , psychoanalysis
Harmful parasite infestation can cause energetically costly behavioural and immunological responses, with the potential to reduce host fitness and survival. It has been hypothesized that the energetic costs of infection cause resting metabolic rate ( RMR ) to increase. Furthermore, under terminal investment theory, individuals exposed to pathogens should allocate resources to current reproduction when life expectancy is reduced, instead of concentrating resources on an immune defence. In this study, we activated the immune system of T enebrio molitor males via insertion of nylon monofilament, conducted female preference tests to estimate attractiveness of male odours and assessed RMR and mortality. We found that attractiveness of males coincided with significant down‐regulation of their encapsulation response against a parasite‐like intruder. Activation of the immune system increased RMR only in males with heightened odour attractiveness and that later suffered higher mortality rates. The results suggest a link between high RMR and mortality and support terminal investment theory in T . molitor .