Trans- and Within-Generational Developmental Plasticity May Benefit the Prey but Not Its Predator during Heat Waves

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Heat waves can have fatal effects on arthropods such as insects and mites since their heat tolerance is often lower than the diurnal maximum temperatures during heat waves. Plastic modifications by the parents, however, can rapidly result in favorable adaptations in offspring traits. This question was investigated by using a prominent natural enemy/pest couple in biological control, the predatory mite Phytoseiulus persimilis and its prey, the spider mite Tetranychus urticae. We exposed both species separately to extreme or mild heat waves during their juvenile development, a vital phase of arthropod life, for two generations and assessed various fitness-relevant parameters of the offspring generation. Under extreme heat waves, adult body sizes of predator and prey males and prey females were insensitive, when they derived from parents also reared under extreme heat waves. Irrespective of their origin, offspring reached earlier adulthood under extreme heat waves. In general, prey benefitted more from parental modifications compared to the predator. However, further investigations are needed to verify whether these changes affect the interactions between the predators and their prey to an extent that it may jeopardize biological control during extreme heat waves. ABSTRACT: Theoretically, parents can adjust vital offspring traits to the irregular and rapid occurrence of heat waves via developmental plasticity. However, the direction and strength of such trait modifications are often species-specific. Here, we investigated within-generational plasticity (WGP) and trans-generational plasticity (TGP) effects induced by heat waves during the offspring development of the predator Phytoseiulus persimilis and its herbivorous prey, the spider mite Tetranychus urticae, to assess plastic developmental modifications. Single offspring individuals with different parental thermal origin (reared under mild or extreme heat waves) of both species were exposed to mild or extreme heat waves until adulthood, and food consumption, age and size at maturity were recorded. The offspring traits were influenced by within-generational plasticity (WGP), trans-generational plasticity (TGP), non-plastic trans-generational effects (TGE) and/or their interactions. When exposed to extreme heat waves, both species speeded up development (exclusively WGP), consumed more (due to the fact of WGP but also to TGP in prey females and to non-plastic TGE in predator males), and predator females got smaller (non-plastic TGE and WGP), whereas prey males and females were equally sized irrespective of their origin, because TGE, WGP and TGP acted in opposite directions. The body sizes of predator males were insensitive to parental and offspring heat wave conditions. Species comparisons indicated stronger reductions in the developmental time and reduced female predator-prey body size ratios in favor of the prey under extreme heat waves. Further investigations are needed to evaluate, whether trait modifications result in lowered suppression success of the predator on its prey under heat waves or not.