Meeting Abstract

60.5  Wednesday, Jan. 6  Sex, death and aging: life history trade-offs between reproductive investment and whole-organism performance in Teleogryllus commodus crickets LAILVAUX, SP*; ZAJITSCHEK, F; BROOKS, R; University of New Orleans; La Station d’Ecologie Experimentale du CNRS à Moulis; University of New South Wales slailvaux@gmail.com

Age-related declines in survival and reproductive performance have been reported in a range of vertebrate and invertebrate animal species. Recent evidence suggests that aging rates in reproductive investment can differ between males and females as a result of sexually dimorphic reproductive strategies, resulting in sex-specific life-histories. We tested for life-history trade-offs between reproductive investment and two kinds of whole-organism performance (biting and jumping) in male and female Teleogryllus commodus crickets. By examining the relationships between each performance trait and sexual advertisement (in males) and fecundity (in females), as well as the effects of aging on these relationships, we are able to place whole-organism performance squarely within a life-history framework that takes into account sex-specific priorities in reproductive investment.