The pace-of-life: A sex-specific link between metabolic rate and life history in bean beetles

Abstract

Metabolic rate (MR) is a key functional trait simply because metabolism converts resources into population growth rate. Yet, our empirical understanding of the sources of within species variation in MR, as well as of its life history and ecological correlates, is rather limited. Here, we assess whether MR lies at the root of a syndrome of correlated rate-dependent life-history traits in an insect. Selection for early (E) or late (L) age-at-reproduction for >160 generations in the bean beetle Acanthoscelides obtectus has produced beetles that differ markedly in juvenile development, body size, fecundity schedules, ageing and life span. Here, we use micro-respirometry to test whether this has been associated with the evolution of age- and sex-specific metabolic phenotypes. We find that mass-specific MR is 18% higher in E lines compared to L lines and that MR decreases more rapidly with chronological, but not biological, age in E lines. Males, under sexual selection to “live-fast-die-young”, show 50% higher MR than females and MR decreased more rapidly with age in males. Our results are consistent with a central role for MR for the divergence in “pace-of-life” seen in these beetles, supporting the view that MR lies at the root of ecologically relevant life-history trait variation within species. A plain language summary is available for this article.