BET HEDGING AND THE DIAPAUSE STRATEGIES OF THE CRICKET ALLONEMOBIUS-FASCIATUS

We investigated the roles of bet hedging and developmental plasticity in the diapause strategy of a partially bivoltine population of the cr icket Allonemobius fasciatus. When reared under naturally changing env ironmental conditions, first-generation females produced increasing pr oportions of diapause eggs over their reproductive life-span, presumab ly reflecting the decreasing probability over time that sufficient gro wing season remains for a second generation. The transition from direc t-developing to diapause eggs occurred over 35 d for the population, s uggesting a considerable degree of bet hedging. The analysis of indivi duals, however, revealed a much more rapid response and large between- female variability in the median (50%) diapause date. This rapid trans ition from nondiapause to diapause eggs implies that interannual varia bility in season length has not resulted in the evolution of a substan tial risk-spreading strategy for individual females. Our results highl ight the need to study life history variation at the level of the indi vidual rather than the population.