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

寻找方法种植足够的粮食以维持不断增长的人口，同时尽量减少对自然环境的有害影响，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农用化学品的使用来防治病虫害，这对物种、生态系统和气候变化产生了极端的负面影响[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口，虫害综合治理（IPM）是一项至关重要的战略。IPM优先考虑基于生物多样性的害虫控制，并认为化学农药的使用仅作为最后的手段。拟寄生蜂是一大类昆虫，通常被用作一种不使用化学药剂的害虫防治手段（生物防治）。成虫是自由生活的，雌虫在其他物种身上或体内产卵，它们的后代以寄主为食，通常是另一种昆虫，总是杀死它。除了它们的经济价值外，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特定的害虫[9,10]。尽管对寄生蜂行为生态学的研究非常丰富，但在性选择和性冲突的研究中却很少受到关注[10]。当男性和女性的最佳策略或特征不同时，就会发生性别冲突。例如，男性的最佳交配率通常高于女性。如果接受或拒绝多余的雄性交配尝试代价高昂，这可能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，则可能会影响招募，甚至影响种群的生存能力。对于自然和农业环境中的寄生蜂来说，性冲突可能会对寄生率产生深远的影响。了解这些昆虫的性冲突在多大程度上影响了个体和种群的适合度，为了解这些物种的交配系统如何影响寄主-寄生虫动力学和共同进化以及不同IPM情景下害虫控制效果提供了新的有价值的信息。

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.