Resource amount and discontinuity influence flight and reproduction in Hippodamia convergens (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae)

Industrial-scale agriculture creates a mosaic of large monocultures in the landscape, where seasonal cropping cycles generate discontinuous resource availability for insect predators both spatially and temporally. In this environment, selection will favor predator movement and reproductive behaviors that optimize the location and effective utilization of resource (prey) pulses that are both patchy and ephemeral in nature. Using a model system to study predator movement and reproduction, we tested how discontinuous periods of food resource access that mimic fluctuating resource populations (aphids) would influence flight behavior and reproduction of a highly mobile predator, Hippodamia convergens (convergent lady beetle), and possibly modify energetic trade-offs between these behaviors. Examining how these factors affect reproduction and movement in a lab context is an important first step toward understanding their corresponding performance in the field. Adult beetles were provided eith...