@phdthesis{Pfenning2008, author = {Pfenning, Brenda}, title = {Seasonal life-history adaptation in the water strider GERRIS LACUSTRIS}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-27900}, school = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg}, year = {2008}, abstract = {Insects living in temperate latitudes need to adjust their life-history to a seasonally variable environment. Reproduction, growth, and development have to be completed within the limited period where environmental conditions are favourable while climatically adverse conditions have to be spent in a state of diapause. Consequently, questions how individuals adapt their life-history to seasonality and which mechanisms underlie the responses to seasonal cues, like photoperiod, are important issues in the study of life-history strategies. This thesis focuses on the life-history adaptation to seasonality in the wing-dimorphic common pond skater Gerris lacustris L. (Heteroptera: Gerridae). Using a combination of field and laboratory studies as well as mathematical modelling, it is adressed how variation in the availability of thermal energy impacts on various aspects of larval development such as accumulated thermal energy (i.e. physiological development time), developmental pathway (direct reproduction vs. diapause) and wing dimorphism.}, subject = {Wanzen}, language = {en} }