Incorporating physiology into parasitoid behavioral ecology: the allocation of nutritional resources

A critical problem faced by most theoretical studies of parasitoid behavior and population dynamics has been the paucity of empirically obtained infor mation about the pattern of resource allocation to egg production and metab olic maintenance in relation to adult diet in female parasitoids. This revi ew calls for a shift from traditional manipulative feeding studies to studi es that quantify the energetic budget of parasitoids and which take into ac count the dynamic nature of metabolic processes, As guidelines, we highligh t the advances made along these lines with other insect groups and some of the simplest tools already available today for fulfilling this goal.