Female insects must assess multiple factors when laying eggs, including both abiotic and biotic conditions of the laying site. Competition may also play a crucial role in the oviposition decisions of females. Competition at oviposition sites may take two forms: current competition between adults for both food and access to sites for oviposition, and future competition between offspring that will hatch and develop at that site. Here, we test whether female red flour beetles (Tribolium castaneum) assess both current and future competition at oviposition sites with a laboratory experiment where we manipulated both the density (current competition) and sex ratio (future competition) of adults at potential oviposition sites. We counted the number of eggs laid in each site to assess oviposition decisions, and then let those eggs develop into adults to determine the fitness consequences of oviposition decisions (measured by the total number of adult offspring produced). Female red flour beetles responded to both density and sex ratio: per capita eggs laid decreased as density increased, but was higher when the sex ratio was male-biased. These oviposition decisions were reflected in the per capita number of adult offspring produced. We provide evidence that female red flour beetles do assess for both current and future competition in their oviposition decisions.

中文翻译：

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雌性红粉甲虫在产卵期间会评估当前和未来的竞争吗？

雌性昆虫在产卵时必须评估多种因素，包括产卵地点的非生物和生物条件。竞争也可能在雌性的产卵决定中发挥关键作用。产卵地点的竞争可能有两种形式：目前成虫之间对食物和产卵地点的竞争，以及将在该地点孵化和发育的后代之间未来的竞争。在这里，我们测试了雌性红粉甲虫（Tribolium castaneum）是否通过实验室实验评估了产卵地点当前和未来的竞争，在该实验中，我们操纵了潜在产卵地点的成虫密度（当前竞争）和性别比（未来竞争）。我们计算了每个地点产卵的数量以评估产卵决定，然后让这些卵发育成成虫，以确定产卵决定的适应性后果（以产生的成年后代总数来衡量）。雌性红粉甲虫对密度和性别比例都有反应：人均产卵随着密度的增加而减少，但当性别比例偏雄时则更高。这些产卵决定反映在产生的人均成年后代数量上。我们提供的证据表明，雌性红粉甲虫确实在其产卵决策中评估了当前和未来的竞争。这些产卵决定反映在产生的人均成年后代数量上。我们提供的证据表明，雌性红粉甲虫确实在其产卵决策中评估了当前和未来的竞争。这些产卵决定反映在产生的人均成年后代数量上。我们提供的证据表明，雌性红粉甲虫确实在其产卵决策中评估了当前和未来的竞争。