Reproduction–Immunity Trade-Offs in Insects

Immune defense and reproduction are physiologically and energetically demanding processes and have been observed to trade off in a diversity of female insects. Increased reproductive effort results in reduced immunity, and reciprocally, infection and activation of the immune system reduce reproductive output. This trade-off can manifest at the physiological level (within an individual) and at the evolutionary level (genetic distinction among individuals in a population). The resource allocation model posits that the trade-off arises because of competition for one or more limiting resources, and we hypothesize that pleiotropic signaling mechanisms regulate allocation of that resource between reproductive and…