Don’t leave the past behind: larval experience shapes pupal antipredator response in Aedes aegypti

Animals may use predation-risk experiences to improve their future antipredator behavior, thereby decreasing their risk of mortality through predation. Despite the fitness benefits, such behavioral carryovers of predation past may not be common in species with complex life cycles. In these species, each life stage is morphologically and functionally distinct, and might be expected to evolve only to respond to the current threat level. In addition, major physiological changes might hamper behavioral carryover between stages, especially in holometabolous insects, where extensive tissue remodeling occurs between stages. We therefore investigated behavioral carryover in the holometabolous mosquito, Aedes aegypti. In a 2 × 2 experiment, we tested if the predation risk experienced by larvae (present/absent) carries over to affect how pupae behave in the presence or absence of predation cues. We manipulated the risk of predation experienced by larvae and investigated its influence on pupal antipredator behaviors. Pupae responded to the current presence or absence of predation cues by changing several components of their diving behavior, but how they responded depended on their experience of predators. We, therefore, found behavioral carryover from the larval to the pupal stage, which was context-specific. The carryover was detectable under normal resource-limited conditions but not when food was abundant. Our study underscores the role of predation in the evolution of complex life cycles, emphasizing the significance of early experiences in influencing behavioral traits in subsequent life stages.