Maternal programming of offspring in relation to food availability in an insect (Forficula auricularia)

Maternal effects can induce adjustments in offspring phenotype to the environment experienced by the mother. Of particular interest is if mothers can programme their offspring to cope best under matching environmental conditions, but the evidence for such anticipatory maternal effects (AME) is limited. In this study, we manipulated experimentally the food availability experienced by mothers and their offspring in the European earwig (Forficula auricularia). Offspring produced by females that had access to high or low food quantities were cross-fostered to foster mothers experiencing matched or mismatched environments. Offspring experiencing food availability matching the one of their mothers had an increased survival to adulthood compared with offspring experiencing mismatched conditions. Females experiencing high food laid larger clutches. This clutch-size adjustment statistically explained the matching effect when offspring experienced high food, but not when experiencing low food conditions. There were no effects of matching on offspring growth and developmental rate. Overall, our study demonstrates that AME occurs in relation to food availability enhancing offspring survival to adulthood under matching food conditions.