Ladybird beetles' life history traits

1. The balance between risk and benefit of exploiting resources drives life history evolution in organisms. Predators are naturally recognized as major drivers of the life history evolution of their prey. Although prey may also influence the life history evolution of their predators in the context of an evolutionary arms race, there is far more evidence of the role of predators than of prey. 

2. The goal of this study was to investigate the role of prey in life history evolution of predators using ladybird beetle predators of aphids and coccids. These particular ladybirds and their prey were chosen because literature shows that the pace of life of aphids is faster than that of coccids and this difference is reflected in the life histories of the ladybirds that specialize on feeding on aphids or coccids.

3. Thirty-four species of ladybird predators of aphids and eight of coccids belonging to five different tribes were collected and reared in the laboratory. The females were weighed...

1. 生物对资源开发的风险与收益权衡，驱动着其生活史演化。捕食者向来被认为是猎物生活史演化的核心驱动因素。尽管在进化军备竞赛的背景下，猎物也可能影响捕食者的生活史演化，但目前支持捕食者作用的证据远多于支持猎物作用的证据。
2. 本研究旨在以取食蚜虫（aphids）与介壳虫（coccids）的瓢虫类捕食者为研究对象，探究猎物在捕食者生活史演化中发挥的作用。选择这类瓢虫及其猎物作为研究材料，是因为已有文献表明，蚜虫的生活节奏快于介壳虫，而这种差异也体现在专门取食蚜虫或介壳虫的瓢虫的生活史特征中。
3. 本研究采集了隶属于5个不同族的34种蚜虫捕食性瓢虫与8种介壳虫捕食性瓢虫，并在实验室条件下进行饲养。随后对雌性个体进行体重测量……