Abstract
Chinese sericulture relies in part on the rearing of the Chinese oak silkmoth Antheraea pernyi, an insect with key cultural and ecological roles. While feeding primarily on oak, Antheraea species are known to accept alternative hosts such as birch Betula sp with little to no apparent negative fitness consequences. This opens up the range of hostplants that could be used for large-scale rearing of A. pernyi for silk production and food, or used by this species in possible invasions. To date, however, the natural history and ecology of A. pernyi remain subject of investigation. For instance, we still do not know how individuals respond to crowding developmental environments, which is an important factor to consider for the ecology of the species as well as for commercial rearing. Here, I describe the implications of larval crowding to the survival and growth of A. pernyi larvae during early development. I show that higher crowding is associated with stronger negative effects on growth and survival, corroborating findings from other holometabolous insects. I then discuss the implications of this findings for our understanding of optimum larval crowding. Overall, the findings reveal important ecological information for an insect species key for provisioning and cultural ecosystem services.
Original language | English |
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Article number | e9283 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Ecology and Evolution |
Volume | 12 |
Issue number | 9 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 11 Sept 2022 |
Bibliographical note
The author would like to thank Dawn Shewring, Lauren Dingle, Sue Phillips and the entire team of technicians of the School of Biological Sciences for the support in the experiment. The author would like to thank Mark Paterson and Joy Molyneaux for the invaluable assistance and stimulating discussions about plants.JM receives support from the Royal Society Research Grant (RGS\R2\202220) and from BBSRC Responsive Mode grant (BB/V015249/1).
Data Availability Statement
The raw data and R code to reproduce the analysis are given as supplementary material.Keywords
- density-dependent
- garment
- natural history