DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Inducible egg stacking defends against parasitism in a seed beetle

许多生物似乎能够预测未来环境的严酷程度，并相应地改变其后代的素质。这个项目的重点是一种普通的甲虫，为了保护下层的蛋不受卵寄生的伤害，提高它的存活率，它会产下两个蛋。上层虫卵的质量比下层虫卵小，即使没有寄生，也不能完全发育。虽然叠蛋提高了最底部的蛋的质量，但它需要更多的资源，因此减少了可以产生的后代的数量。雌性甲虫通过减少分配给牺牲（顶部）卵的营养物质来预测这种权衡，但引发营养物质重新分配和堆积行为的线索目前尚不清楚。研究人员将启动一系列实验，以确定影响堆积行为的特定环境因素以及雌性甲虫对这些因素的敏感性。他们预测，来自拟寄生物的化学和挥发性线索都会引起堆积反应；甲虫会根据寄生蜂的密度来调整它们产卵的数量。甲虫黄蜂互动系统为向年轻人传达科学发现的兴奋提供了特殊的机会。这项研究已被用于K-12班和公共场所，以说明昆虫的多样性，并教授生态相互作用，如食草和寄生。在项目过程中，利用这种种间互动的推广将通过亚利桑那大学昆虫发现的小学和中学推广项目继续进行。此外，从生物学服务不足的群体中招募的本科生将参与该项目。

A broad range of organisms appears able to predict the harshness of future environments and to change the quality of their offspring accordingly. This project focuses on a common beetle that lays stacks of two eggs in order to protect the lower egg from an egg parasitoid and to increase its survival.. Top eggs have reduced mass relative to bottom eggs, and do not complete development, even in the absnce of parasitism. While stacking eggs improves the quality of the bottom-most eggs, it requires more resources and therefore decreases the number of offspring that can be produced. Female beetles anticipate this tradeoff by reducing the nutrients allocated to the sacrificial (top) eggs before they are laid, but the cues eliciting nutrient reallocation and stacking behavior are currently unknown. The researchers will initiate a series of experiments to determine the specific environmental cues responsible for stacking behavior and the sensitivity of female beetles to these cues. They predict that both chemical and volatile cues from the parasitoid cause the stacking response; and that beetles adjust the number of stacks they produce in response to parasitoid density.The beetle-wasp interaction system offers special opportunities for communicating the excitement of scientific discovery to young people. The research has been used in K-12 classes and public settings to illustrate insect diversity and to teach ecological interactions such as herbivory and parasitism. Over the course of the project, outreach using this interspecific interaction will be continued through an elementary and middle school outreach program at the University of Arizona, Insect Discovery. In addition, undergraduate students recruited from under-served groups in biology will participate in the project.