Testing the fecundity advantage hypothesis with Sitobion avenae, Rhopalosiphum padi, and Schizaphis graminum (Hemiptera: Aphididae) feeding on ten wheat accessions

The fecundity advantage hypothesis suggests that females with a large body size produce more offspring than smaller females. We tested this hypothesis by exploring the correlations between life-history traits of three aphid species feeding on ten wheat accessions at three levels of analysis with respect to the host plant: overall, inter-accession, and intra-accession. We found that fecundity was significantly correlated with mean relative growth rate (MRGR), weight gain, and development time, and that the faster aphid develops the greater body and fecundity, depending on aphid species, wheat accession, and analyses level. Larger aphids of all three species produced more offspring overall; this held true for Sitobion avenae and Schizaphis graminum at the inter-accession level, and for S. avenae, Rhopalosiphum padi, and S. graminum for three, five, and eight accessions respectively at the intra-accession level. Only one correlation, between intrinsic rates of natural increase (r(m)) and MRGR, was significant for all aphid species at all three analysis levels. A more accurate statement of the fecundity advantage hypothesis is that cereal aphids with greater MRGR generally maintain higher r(m) on wheat. Our results also provide a method for exploring relationships between individual life-history traits and population dynamics for insects on host plants.