TY  - JOUR
A1  - Berger, Dieter
A1  - Walters, R. J.
A1  - Gotthard, K.
T1  - What limits insect fecundity? : Body size- and temperature-dependent egg maturation and oviposition in a butterfly
N2  - * 1. Large female insects usually have high potential fecundity. Therefore selection should favour an increase in body size given that these females get opportunities to realize their potential advantage by maturing and laying more eggs. However, ectotherm physiology is strongly temperature-dependent, and activities are carried out sufficiently only within certain temperature ranges. Thus it remains unclear if the fecundity advantage of a large size is fully realized in natural environments, where thermal conditions are limiting. * 2. Insect fecundity might be limited by temperature at two levels; first eggs need to mature, and then the female needs time for strategic ovipositing of the egg. Since a female cannot foresee the number of oviposition opportunities that she will encounter on a given day, the optimal rate of egg maturation will be governed by trade-offs associated with egg- and time-limited oviposition. As females of different sizes will have different amounts of body reserves, size-dependent allocation trade-offs between the mother"s condition and her egg production might be expected. * 3. In the temperate butterfly Pararge aegeria, the time and temperature dependence of oviposition and egg maturation, and the interrelatedness of these two processes were investigated in a series of laboratory experiments, allowing a decoupling of the time budgets for the respective processes. * 4. The results show that realized fecundity of this species can be limited by both the temperature dependence of egg maturation and oviposition under certain thermal regimes. Furthermore, rates of oviposition and egg maturation seemed to have regulatory effects upon each other. Early reproductive output was correlated with short life span, indicating a cost of reproduction. Finally, large females matured more eggs than small females when deprived of oviposition opportunities. Thus, the optimal allocation of resources to egg production seems dependent on female size. * 5. This study highlights the complexity of processes underlying rates of egg maturation and oviposition in ectotherms under natural conditions. We further discuss the importance of temperature variation for egg- vs. time-limited fecundity and the consequences for the evolution of female body size in insects.
Y1  - 2008
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2435.2008.01392.x
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2435.2008.01392.x
SN  - 0269-8463
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Berger, Dieter
A1  - Törjek, Otto
A1  - Altmann, Thomas
T1  - Establishment of high-efficiency mapping tools
Y1  - 2004
SN  - 3-00-011587-0
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Altmann, Thomas
A1  - von Groll, Uritza
A1  - Berger, Dieter
T1  - The subtilisin-like serine protease SDD1 mediates cell-cell signaling during Arabidopsis stomatal development
Y1  - 2002
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Altmann, Thomas
A1  - Törjek, Otto
A1  - Berger, Dieter
A1  - Meyer, Rhonda C.
A1  - Müssig, Carsten
A1  - Schmidt, K. J.
A1  - Sorensen, T. R.
A1  - Weisshaar, Bernd
A1  - Olds-Mitchell, T.
T1  - Establishment of a high-efficiency SNP-based framework marker set for Arabidopsis
Y1  - 2003
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Altmann, Thomas
A1  - Schlüter, U.
A1  - Muschak, M.
A1  - Berger, Dieter
T1  - Photosynthetic performance of an Arabidopsis mutant with elevated stomatal density (sdd1-1) under different light regimes
Y1  - 2003
ER  -