Data from: Nutrition shapes life-history evolution across species

Nutrition is a key component of life-history theory, yet we know little about how diet quality shapes life-history evolution across species. Here, we test whether quantitative measures of nutrition are linked to life-history evolution across 96 species of butterflies representing over 50 independent diet shifts. We find that butterflies feeding on high nitrogen host plants as larvae are more fecund, but their eggs are smaller relative to their body size. Nitrogen and sodium content of host plants are also both positively related to eye size. Some of these relationships show pronounced lineage-specific effects. Testis size is not related to nutrition. Additionally, the evolutionary timing of diet shifts is not important, suggesting that nutrition affects life histories regardless of the length of time a species has been adapting to its diet. Our results suggest that, at least for some lineages, species with higher nutrient diets can invest in a range of fitness-related traits like fecundity and eye size while allocating less to each egg as offspring have access to a richer diet. These results have important implications for the evolution of life histories in the face of anthropogenic changes in nutrient availability.营养是生活史理论的核心组成部分，然而学界对饮食质量如何塑造跨物种的生活史演化仍知之甚少。本研究针对涵盖50余次独立饮食转变的96种蝴蝶，检验营养定量指标是否与生活史演化存在关联。研究发现，以高氮寄主植物为食的蝶类幼虫具有更高的繁殖力，但其所产卵粒相对于自身体型却更小。寄主植物的氮与钠含量均与复眼尺寸呈正相关，部分此类关联表现出显著的谱系特异性效应。睾丸尺寸与营养水平无关。此外，饮食转变的演化时间节点并不影响这一关联，这表明无论物种适应其饮食的时长如何，营养都会对其生活史产生影响。本研究结果表明，至少对于部分谱系而言，取食营养水平更高的饮食的物种，可在繁殖力与复眼尺寸等一系列适合度相关性状上投入更多资源，同时由于后代可获得更丰富的食物，其对单个卵的资源分配则更少。这些结果对于应对养分可获得性的人为变化背景下的生活史演化研究具有重要启示意义。