Do maternal allocations towards offspring quality and quantity ameliorate the effects of predators on offspring survival?

Reproductive allocation is often balanced between the quantity and quality of offspring. Ecological stresses, like exposure to predators, can cause organisms to shift their allocations along this continuum. While the consequences of such plastic shifts for offspring performance are often untested, they are critical to understanding the potential long-term benefits of manipulating predation risk as an agricultural pest management technique. Predation risk induces reductions in egg production and increases in nutritional condition due to maternal provisioning in Colorado potato beetles (Leptinotarsa decemlineata, CPB). Here we tested whether reductions in density or increases in offspring condition, which may increase per-capita larval survival, can compensate for the reduction in total egg production, especially when offspring are exposed to predators. In two field trials, we manipulated the density and condition of larval CPB and measured survival through development to adulthood in fie..., Using the herbivorous Colorado potato beetle and predaceous spined soldier bug system, we tested whether parental reproductive allocation shifts could compensate for reductions in the total number of eggs laid. In this system, mothers exposed to predators shift their reproductive investment to make fewer offspring with higher levels of provisioning. We tested 1) the individual and combined effects of larval density and condition on the number of offspring surviving to the last larval stage and emerging as adults, in the presence and absence of predators, 2) whether larval survival is density-dependent in the presence and absence of predators, and 3) whether density-dependent survival depended on larval condition. Lastly, 4) we measured larval feeding, growth, and development midway through the larval period to assess levels of competition and effects on plant damage.
We placed larval beetles from all combinations of density and condition treatments in field mesocosms with and without pr..., , # Do maternal allocations towards offspring quality and quantity ameliorate the effects of predators on offspring survival?

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.xwdbrv1ms](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.xwdbrv1ms)

## File 1: Ugine\_et\_al.\_2024\_1

### Column headings and their meaning

* Trial = two replicate tests of the same hypothesis (Trial 1 and Trial 2)
* Cage = identity of the field mesocosm
* Initial larval density = the number of first instar potato beetle larvae placed into the cage (larvae/cage)
* Provisioning = low are unprovisioned beetles, high were provided sibling eggs to consume
* Predator presence = Yes indicates we placed *Podisus maculiventris* in the cage, and No indicates no predators added to the cage.
* Day 0, initial mass (grams) = the mass of the initial cohort of beetle larvae placed into the cage (co-variate)
* Abundance day 1-9 = number of larvae remaining in the cage via visual inspection (larvae/cage on day n)
* Number of 4th instars (d6-d9) =...