Diet alters interspecific fecundity–size relationships in capital breeding insects

Abstract

Species' life history traits, such as fecundity, and how they co-vary with other traits are central to models in population and community ecology. Within species, increasing fecundity with body size is often driven by nutritional quality of the diet. How and why fecundity varies among species is poorly understood but likely to be related, at least in part, to patterns of resource acquisition and allocation. This study tested for an interspecific, fecundity–size relationship among caddisfly species and tested whether fecundity covaried with larval diet. Data on fecundity and body size were collated for 102 species in 75 genera and 28 families from around the world. Species were assigned to on..