Effects of a toxicant on population growth rates: sublethal and delayed responses in blowfly populations

Summary

1. Previous studies have shown that cadmium exposure of blowfly populations (Lucilia sericata) results in reduced population growth rate, but also in higher individual weight, due to reduced competition for food. In this study, we investigate the discrepancy between the positive effect on individual growth and the negative effect on population growth, by measuring direct and delayed effects of cadmium in the adult stage. 2. Blowfly populations were exposed to cadmium through the diet in four treatment combinations: larval stage, adult stage, both stages, or neither stage. We measured the effects on accumulation of cadmium, survival, development time, weight and reproductive rate. 3. Cadmium was accumulated from both stages. 4. Individuals exposed to cadmium in the larval stage had higher mean pupal and adult weight (due to reduced densities), but also reduced adult longevity and fecundity. 5. Adult longevity and fecundity were also reduced by cadmium exposure in the adult stage. 6. In stage-structured populations, the link between individual-level and population-level responses to a toxicant may be complicated by stage-specific sensitivities to the toxicant, by delayed responses in the adult stage to sublethal effects in the juvenile stage, and by density-dependent compensatory responses to toxicant-induced mortality.