Data from: Opposing effects of mortality factors on progeny operational sex ratio may thwart adaptive manipulation of primary sex ratio ...

• Main Authors: Moreau, Gaétan, Eveleigh, Eldon S., Lucarotti, Christopher J., Morin, Benoit, Quiring, Dan T.
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: Dryad 2018
• Subjects: balsam fir sawfly; outbreak cycle stochasticity; differential mortality; Neodiprion abietis; pupal stage; Newfoundland
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.4c058; https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.4c058

Despite extensive research on mechanisms generating biases in sex ratios, the capacity of natural enemies to shift or further skew operational sex ratios following sex allocation and parental care remains largely unstudied in natural populations. Male cocoons of the sawfly Neodiprion abietis (Hymenoptera: Diprionidae) are consistently smaller than those of females, with very little overlap, and thus, we were able to use cocoon size to sex cocoons. We studied three consecutive cohorts of N. abietis in six forest stands to detect cocoon volume-associated biases in the attack of predators, pathogens, and parasitoids and examine how the combined effect of natural enemies shapes the realized operational sex ratio. Neodiprion abietis mortality during the cocoon stage was sex-biased, being 1.6 times greater for males than females. Greater net mortality in males occurred because male-biased mortality caused by a pteromalid parasitic wasp and a baculovirus was greater and more skewed than female-biased mortality ... : Morphological measurements of N. abietis cocoonsFate and volume (in cubic millimeters) of Neodiprion abietis cocoons collected from 2000 to 2002 in six forest stands in western Newfoundland, Canada.dataset.csv ...