Dung Beetles Eat Acorns to Increase Their Ovarian Development and Thermal Tolerance 英文参考文献.docVIP

DungBeetlesEatAcornstoIncreaseTheirOvarian DevelopmentandThermalTolerance Jose′ R.Verdu′1*,Jose′ L.Casas1,JorgeM.Lobo2,CatherineNuma1 1I.U.CIBIO,UniversityofAlicante,Alicante,Spain,2MuseoNacionaldeCienciasNaturales,CSIC,Madrid,Spain Abstract Animals eat different foods in proportions that yield a more favorable balance of nutrients. Despite known examples of thesebehaviorsacrossdifferenttaxa,theirecologicalandphysiologicalbenefitsremainunclear.Weidentifiedasurprising dietary shift that confers ecophysiological advantages in a dung beetle species. Thorectes lusitanicus, a Mediterranean ecosystemspeciesadaptedtoeatsemi-dryanddrydung(dung-fiberconsumers)isalsoactivelyattractedtooakacorns, consuming and burying them. Acorn consumption appears to confer potential advantages over beetles that do not eat acorns: acorn-fed beetles showed important improvements in the fat body mass, hemolymph composition, and ovary development. During the reproductive period (October-December) beetles incorporating acorns into their diets should have greatly improved resistance to low-temperature conditions and improved ovarian development. In addition to enhancingtheunderstandingoftherelevanceofdietaryplasticitytotheevolutionarybiologyofdungbeetles,theseresults openthewaytoamoregeneralunderstandingoftheecophysiologicalimplicationsofdifferentialdietaryselectiononthe ecologyandbiogeographyoftheseinsects. Citation:Verdu′ JR,CasasJL,LoboJM,NumaC(2010)DungBeetlesEatAcornstoIncreaseTheirOvarianDevelopmentandThermalTolerance.PLoSONE5(4): e10114.doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0010114 Editor:RyanL.Earley,UniversityofAlabama,UnitedStatesofAmerica ReceivedSeptember7,2009;AcceptedMarch22,2010;PublishedApril9,2010 Copyright: ? 2010 Verdu′ et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricteduse,distribution,andreproductioninanymedium,providedtheoriginalauthorandsourcearecredited. Funding:ThisresearchwassupportedbytheMiniste