Eur. J. Entomol. 103 (1): 249-253, 2006 | DOI: 10.14411/eje.2006.028

Short-term consequences of nutritional depression on foraging behaviour of dark bush-crickets Pholidoptera griseoaptera (Orthoptera: Ensifera)

Steffen HAHN, Grit KUNERT
Institute of Ecology, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Dornburger Strasse 159, 07743 Jena, Germany;

Temporary malnutrition during juvenile development often negatively influences the life-history decisions of adults. Hence, individuals should avoid this effect by compensatory feeding on the limited resource when the food situation improves. In a feeding experiment, bush-crickets (Pholidoptera griseoaptera) responded to nine days depression of animal food supply by increasing their feeding activities on insect carcasses when a full-nutritional diet was available. As a short-term reaction, treated individuals of both sexes took 3.4 times more food from carcasses (0.084 g / 9 h) than control individuals. The increased carcass intake levelled off at 0.025 g / 9 h after an interval of nine hours, indicating that bush-crickets can rapidly compensate for an experimentally increased demand for animal diet. The general daily carcass intake of male and female bush-crickets was 0.07 g fresh weight, corresponding to 16.4% of the bush-cricket's body mass. Carcass intake and body mass development was correlated over the complete period (7 d), but no correlation was found for the time of short-term reaction. We conclude that animal diet is essential for the growth of dark bush-crickets. They were able to compensate for short depressions in animal food supply by increasing feeding frequencies and feeding rates of the limited resource. Hence, bush-crickets can cope with short periods of limited animal food supply, e.g. periods of rainfall, which regularly occur in their natural habitat.

Keywords: Foraging, malnutrition, animal diet, body mass, protein consumption, scavenger, carcass, compensatory feeding

Received: March 4, 2005; Revised: August 10, 2005; Accepted: August 10, 2005; Published: January 30, 2006  Show citation

ACS AIP APA ASA Harvard Chicago Chicago Notes IEEE ISO690 MLA NLM Turabian Vancouver
HAHN, S., & KUNERT, G. (2006). Short-term consequences of nutritional depression on foraging behaviour of dark bush-crickets Pholidoptera griseoaptera (Orthoptera: Ensifera). EJE, 103(1), 249-253. doi: 10.14411/eje.2006.028
Share...
Download citation
  • BibTeX (.bib)
  • Bookends (.ris)
  • EasyBib (.ris)
  • EndNote (.enw)
  • EndNote 8 (.xml)
  • ISI WoS (.isi)
  • Medlars (.medlars)
  • Mendeley (.ris)
  • MODS (.xml)
  • Papers (.ris)
  • RefWorks (.txt)
  • RefManager (.ris)
  • RIS (.ris)
  • MS Word (.xml)
  • Zotero (.ris)
    • Open full article

    References

    1. CHERRILL A. 1989: The diet of the wart-biter, Decticus verrucivorus (L.). Bull. Brit. Ecol. Soc. 20: 115-118
    2. CRAWLEY M. 2002: Statistical Computing. John Wiley & Sons, West Sussex, 761 pp
    3. DEL CASTILLO R.C. & NUNEZ-FARFAN J. 2002: Female mating success and risk of pre-reproductive death in a protandrous grasshopper. Oikos 96: 217-224 Go to original source...
    4. DETZEL P. 1985: Die Auswirkungen der Mahd auf die Heuschreckenfauna von Niedermoorwiesen. VerGff. Naturschutz Landschaftspflege Bad-Wuertt. 63: 253-258
    5. FOX C.W. & MOUSSEAU T.A. 1996: Larval host plant affects fitness consequences of egg size variation in the seed beetle Stator limbatus. Oecologia 107: 541-548 Go to original source...
    6. GODAN D. 1961: Untersuchung ueber die Nahrung der Maulwurfsgrille (Gryllotalpa gryllotalpa L.). Z. Angew. Zool. 48: 341-357
    7. GODAN D. 1964: Untersuchung ueber den Einfluss tierischer Nahrung auf die Vermehrung der Maulwurfsgrille (Gryllotalpa gryllotalpa L.). Z. Angew. Zool. 51: 207-223
    8. GWYNNE D.T. 2001: Katydids and Bush-Crickets: Reproductive Behavior and Evolution of the Tettigoniidae. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY, 344 pp
    9. GWYNNE D.T. 2004: Sexual differences in response to larval food stress in two nuptial feeding orthopterans - implications for sexual selection. Oikos 105: 619-625 Go to original source...
    10. HARZ K. 1957: Die Geradfluegler Mitteleuropas. Gustav Fischer Verlag, Jena, 494 pp
    11. HUNT J., BROOKS R., JENNIONS M.D., SMITH M.J., BENTSEN C.L. & BUSSIERE L.F. 2004: High-quality male field crickets invest heavily in sexual display but die young. Nature 432: 1024-1027 Go to original source...
    12. INGRISCH S. 1976: Vergleichende Untersuchungen zum Nahrungsspektrum mitteleuropaeischer Laubheuschrecken (Saltatoria: Tettigoniidae). Entomol. Z. 20: 217-224
    13. INGRISCH S. & KOHLER G. 1998: Die Heuschrecken Mitteleuropas. Westarp Wissenschaften, Magdeburg, 460 pp
    14. KERKUT G.A. & GILBERT L.I. 1985: Comprehensive Insect Physiology, Biochemistry and Pharmacology. Vol. 2. Pergamon Press, Oxford, 505 pp
    15. KOHLER G. 1989: Zur Phaenologie, Abundanzdynamik und Biotopbindung rasenbewohnender Laubheuschrecken (Saltatoria: Tettigonioidea) im mittleren Saaletal bei Jena (Thueringen). Wiss. Z. Friedrich Schiller-Univ. Jena (Naturwiss. R.) 38: 543-561
    16. KOHLER G., HAHN S., REINHARDT K., WAGNER G. & RITZ M. 2002: What happens with dead grasshoppers on grassland? - A field experiment. Articulata 17: 33-49
    17. LOCKWOOD J.A. 1989: Cannibalism in rangland grasshoppers (Orthoptera: Acrididae): attraction to cadavers. J. Kans. Entomol. Soc. 61: 379-387
    18. NAGY B. 1950: Adatok a Decticus verrucivorus L. (Orthopt.: Tettigon.) taplalekszueksegletenek kerdesehez. [Short note on the food requirement of Decticus verrucivorus L. (Orthopt.: Tettigon.).] Ann. Biol. Univ. Debrecen 1: 222-228
    19. PERKINS M.C., WOODS H.A., HARRISON J.F. & ELSER J.J. 2004: Dietary phosphorus affects the growth of larval Manduca sexta. Arch. Insect Biochem. 55: 153-168 Go to original source...
    20. RAUBENHEIMER D. & SIMPSON S.J. 1990: The effects of simultaneous variation in protein digestible carbohydrate and tannic acid on the feeding behavior of larval Locusta migratoria and Schistocerca gregaria Forskal I. Short-term studies. Physiol. Entomol. 15: 219-234 Go to original source...
    21. SIMMONS L.W. & GWYNNE D.T. 1993: Reproductive investment in bush-crickets - the allocation of male and female nutrients to offspring. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. (B) 252: 1-5 Go to original source...
    22. SIMPSON S.J. & ABISGOLD J.D. 1985: Compensation by locusts Locusta migratoria for changes in dietary nutrients behavioral mechanisms. Physiol. Entomol. 10: 443-452 Go to original source...
    23. SIMPSON S.J., SIMMONDS M.-S.J., BLANEY W.M. & JONES J.P. 1990: Compensatory dietary selection occurs in larval Locusta migratoria but not Spodoptera littoralis after a single deficient meal during ad libitum feeding. Physiol. Entomol. 15: 235-242 Go to original source...
    24. STEINHOFF G. 1982: Okologische Freilanduntersuchungen an Geradflueglern (Orthopteroidea) des Bansenberges in der Eifel. Decheniana (Bonn) 27: 100-173
    25. WALTERT M. 1994: Untersuchungen zur NahrungsGkologie der Westlichen Beissschrecke Platycleis albopunctata (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae). University of Wuerzburg, 42 pp
    26. WEDELL N. & RITCHIE M.G. 2004: Male age, mating status and nuptial gift quality in a bushcricket. Anim. Behav. 67: 1059-1065 Go to original source...

    This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original publication is properly cited. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.


    Return to the content