PROTANDRY IN AEDES SIERRENSIS - THE SIGNIFICANCE OF TEMPORAL VARIATION IN FEMALE FECUNDITY

Protandry, the early emergence of males into a seasonally breeding pop ulation, has been described mathematically as a mating strategy result ing from sexual selection on both sexes; A key implicit assumption in protandry models is that all matings contribute equally to a male's re productive success. We build a simulation model of protandry based on field censuses and investigate the consequences of size-specific tempo ral variation in female fecundity for the optimal timing of protandry in the western treehole mosquito, Aedes sierrensis. We show that theor etical predictions of protandry are robust when differential female fe cundity is incorporated into a model of protandry in A. sierrensis. In addition, we utilize field data and laboratory experiments to elucida te the selective forces acting on both sexes of this mosquito. Under c onditions of reduced per capita resources, males minimized development time by pupating at lower mass; females maximized mass by delaying pu pation. These gender-specific, homeostatic adjustments to food and den sity, which result in density-dependent protandry, indicate that prota ndry is the result of selection on independent fitness criteria in eac h sex.