Nutrient acquisition across life stages shapes flight–fecundity trade-offs

Abstract Resource allocation trade-offs, like that between flight and fecundity, are central to the ecology and evolution of all animals and plants. Yet, research on trade-offs has traditionally focused on a single moment during ontogeny, overlooking how the continuous acquisition of resources might modulate these trade-offs. This is especially important for organisms with complex life cycles, like butterflies, which acquire nutrients from different sources as larvae and adults. Our study on the