Larval nutrition impacts survival to adulthood, body size, and the allometric scaling of metabolic rate in adult honeybees

Abstract Resting metabolic rate (RMR) is a fundamental physiological measure linked to numerous aspects of organismal function, including lifespan. Although dietary restriction in insects during larval growth/development affects adult RMR, the impact of larval diet quality on adult RMR has not been studied. Using in vitro rearing to control larval diet quality, we determined the effect of dietary protein and carbohydrate on honeybee survival-to-adulthood, time-to-eclosion, body mass/size and adult RMR. High carbohydrate larval diets increased survival-to-adulthood and time-to-eclosion compared to both low carbohydrate and high protein diets. Upon emergence, bees reared on the high protein diet were smaller and lighter than those reared on other diets, whilst those raised on the high carbohydrate diet varied more in body mass. Newly emerged adult bees’ reared on the high carbohydrate diet showed a significantly steeper increase in allometric scaling of RMR compared to those reared on other diets. This suggests that diet quality influences survival-to-adulthood, time-to-eclosion, and the allometric scaling of RMR. Given that agricultural intensification and increasing urbanisation have led to a decrease in both forage availability and dietary diversity for bees, our results are critical to improving understanding of the impacts of poor developmental nutrition on bee growth/development and physiology. Summary statement We show, for the first time, that the nutritional quality of insect larval diets affects the scaling of metabolic rate with body mass in newly emerged adult honeybees.