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Bet Hedging and the Diapause Strategies of the Cricket Allonemobius Fasciatus
Author(s) -
Bradford Michael J.,
Roff Derek A.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.144
H-Index - 294
eISSN - 1939-9170
pISSN - 0012-9658
DOI - 10.2307/1940482
Subject(s) - diapause , voltinism , biology , population , cricket , ecology , zoology , larva , demography , sociology
We investigated the roles of bet hedging and developmental plasticity in the diapause strategy of a partially bivoltine population of the cricket Allonemobius faciatus. When reared under naturally changing environmental conditions, first—generation females produced increasing proportions of diapause eggs over their reproductive life—span, presumably reflecting the decreasing probability over time that sufficient growing season remains for a second generation. The transition from direct—developing to diapause eggs occurred over 35 d for the population, suggesting a considerable degree of bet hedging. The analysis of individuals, however, revealed a much more rapid response and large between—female variability in the median (50%) diapause date. This rapid transition from nondiapause to diapause eggs implies that interannual variability in season length has not resulted in the evolution of substantial risk—spreading strategy for individual females. Our results highlight the need to study life history variation at the level of the individual rather than the population.