Lifetime Reproductive Success of Females of the Damselfly Coenagrion puella

• Published in: The Journal of animal ecology 1987-10, Vol.56 (3), p.815-832
• Main Authors: Banks, Michael J., Thompson, David J.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animal and plant ecology; Animal ecology; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Animals; Autoecology; Biological and medical sciences; Body size; Clutch size; Coenagrion puella; Coenagrionidae; Demecology; Egg production; Eggs; Female animals; Freshwater; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Insect larvae; Mating behavior; Ponds; Protozoa. Invertebrata; Reproductive success
• ISSN: 0021-8790; 1365-2656
• DOI: 10.2307/4950

(1) Two inter-related studies are described, concerned with lifetime clutch production and determination of clutch size in the damselfly Coenagrion puella. The results of these studies are used to investigate lifetime reproductive success in terms of the females' evolutionary biology and population dynamics. (2) Most variation (70%) in reproductive success arises from variation in survival rather than variation in fecundity. (3) Variation in rate of clutch production accounts for 20% of the variation in reproductive success, and variation in clutch size for only 10%. (4) Females maximize their lifetime egg production by minimizing the interval between clutches, rather than by maximizing the size of each clutch. (5) Since females only engage in reproductive activity on warm, sunny days, weather has a marked effect on female egg production; bad weather means increased inter-clutch intervals and lower egg production. (6) Clutch size is inversely related to body size. However, because large females survive for longer than small females, selection should favour large size in females. (7) Egg size is not correlated with female size. (8) There may be a delayed density-dependent population regulatory process, acting through the reduction in adult female size caused by high larval population density.