Investigating the role of sexual conflict in parasitoid- host eco-evolutionary dynamics

如何种植足够的粮食来维持不断增长的人口，同时最大限度地减少对自然环境的不利影响，是一项紧迫的全球挑战[1，2]。目前的粮食生产系统严重依赖于使用农用化学品来控制害虫，其负面影响对物种、生态系统和气候变化都是极端的[3-7]。如果我们要在不造成不可逆转的环境破坏的情况下养活人类，综合虫害管理（IPM）是一个至关重要的战略。IPM优先考虑基于生物多样性的害虫控制，并将化学杀虫剂的使用视为最后手段[8]。寄生蜂是一大群昆虫，通常用作控制害虫的无化学手段（生物控制）。成虫自由生活，雌蜂在其他物种上产卵，它们的后代以这种宿主为食，通常是另一种昆虫，总是杀死它。除了它们的经济价值，寄生蜂长期以来一直被蓝天研究人员用来理解关于进化，生态学和生理学的基本问题[9，10]。这项研究支持了它们在作物保护中的应用，并帮助生物防治从业者选择最合适的物种来控制给定的害虫[9，10]。尽管对寄生蜂行为生态学的研究很多，但这些物种在性选择和性冲突的研究中很少受到关注[11]。当雄性和雌性的最佳策略或特征不同时，就会发生性冲突[12]。例如，雄性的最佳交配率通常高于雌性。如果接受或抵制多余的雄性交配尝试是昂贵的，这可能会导致雌性的适应性降低[12，13]。如果这些代价表现为后代产量的减少，则可能会对招募甚至种群生存能力产生影响[13]对于自然和农业环境中的寄生蜂，性冲突可能会对寄生率产生深远的影响。了解性冲突在多大程度上影响这些昆虫的个体和种群适合度，为这些物种的交配系统如何影响寄主-寄生物动态和共同进化以及不同IPM情景下害虫控制的有效性提供了新的和有价值的信息。

Finding ways to grow enough food to sustain the ever-growing human population whileminimising detrimental impacts on the natural environment is a pressing global challenge[1,2]. Current food production systems rely heavily on the use of agro-chemicals for pestcontrol, the negative impacts of which are extreme for species, ecosystems and forclimate change [3-7]. Integrated pest management (IPM) is one strategy that will becritical if we are to feed the human population without inflicting irreversible environmentaldamage. IPM prioritizes biodiversity-based pest control and considers the use of chemicalpesticides only as a last resort [8].Parasitoid wasps are a large group of insects, which are commonly used as a chemical-free means of controlling insect pests (biological control). Adults are free-living, femaleslay their eggs on or in other species and their offspring feed on this host, typically anotherinsect, invariably killing it. In addition to their economic value, parasitoid wasps have longbeen used by blue skies researchers to understand fundamental questions aboutevolution, ecology and physiology [9,10]. This research has supported their use in cropprotection and assisted biocontrol practitioners in selecting the most appropriate speciesto control a given pest [9,10].Despite the abundance of studies on parasitoid behavioural ecology, these species havereceived little attention in studies of sexual selection and sexual conflict [11]. Sexualconflict occurs when the optimum strategy or trait is different for males and females [12].For instance, the optimal mating rate is generally higher for males than females. This canresult in reduced fitness for females if accepting or resisting superfluous male copulationattempts is costly [12, 13]. If these costs manifest as reduced offspring production, therecan be consequences for recruitment and even population viability [13]For parasitoid wasps in natural and agricultural settings, sexual conflict may haveprofound consequences for parasitism rates. Understanding the extent to which sexualconflict influences individual and population fitness in these insects provides new andvaluable information on how aspects of these species' mating systems can influencehost-parasitoid dynamics and coevolution as well as the efficacy of pest control underdifferent IPM scenarios.