Limited Evidence That Developmental Diet and Density Affect Adult Female Earwig Behaviour Despite Repeatable Individual Differences

Kelly, Clint D.; Vaillancourt, Jules; Smythe, Clara et Ozkan, Céline (2026). « Limited Evidence That Developmental Diet and Density Affect Adult Female Earwig Behaviour Despite Repeatable Individual Differences ». Ecology and Evolution, 16(9), e74325.

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Résumé

ABSTRACT Developmental environments can have lasting effects on adult behaviour, shaping mean activity, repeatability and within-individual variability in potentially independent ways. We used a split-brood experiment to test whether developmental diet quality and social density affected adult open-field behaviour in female European earwigs (Forficula auricularia sensu lato). Nymphs were reared on a standard or nutrient-diluted ad libitum diet at one, four or eight individuals per dish. Adult females were assayed six times over 16�21�days. Females showed repeatable individual differences in open-field behaviour, particularly distance travelled. A beta-binomial mixed-effects analysis showed substantial treatment-associated differences in survival, which was lower on the nutrient-diluted diet and lower in group-reared than individually reared nymphs. These differences confirmed biological consequences of the treatments and indicated treatment-dependent selective survival that may have filtered phenotypes before testing. Multivariate Bayesian mixed-effects models provided limited evidence that developmental diet or density consistently affected mean behaviour, repeatability, individual change across trials or residual within-individual variability among surviving adult females. Distance travelled and centre use were strongly negatively correlated among individuals; because both were derived from the same arena assay, we interpret this as a shared axis of arena use rather than an independent behavioural syndrome. Repeatable individual differences in open-field behaviour were thus detectable but not clearly explained by the developmental treatments, with treatment-dependent selective survival an additional interpretive constraint.

Type: Article de revue scientifique
Informations complémentaires: e74325 ECE-2026-06-01770.R1
Mots-clés ou Sujets: behavioural ecology
Unité d'appartenance: Faculté des sciences > Département des sciences biologiques
Déposé par: Clint Dale Kelly
Date de dépôt: 15 sept. 2026 08:02
Dernière modification: 15 sept. 2026 08:02
Adresse URL : https://archipel.uqam.ca/secure/id/eprint/20326

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