Freedom to move: Arctic caterpillar (Lepidoptera) growth rate increases with access to new willows (Salicaceae)

AbstractMovement between host plants during the growing season is a common behaviour among insect herbivores, although the mechanisms promoting these movements are poorly understood for many systems. Two possible reasons why insect herbivores relocate include compensating for host plant quantity and/or quality changes and the avoidance of natural enemies. The Arctic caterpillar (Gynaephora groenlandica (Wocke); Lepidoptera: Lymantriidae) moves several metres each day, feeds on its patchily distributed host plant, Arctic willow (Salix arctica Pallas; Salicaceae), and has two main natural enemies, the parasitoids Exorista thula Wood (Diptera: Tachinidae) and Hyposoter diechmanni (Nielsen) (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae). We physically moved caterpillars between Arctic willows and restricted other caterpillar individuals each to a single willow throughout the active period of Arctic caterpillars. We found that growth rate, herbivory rate, and the proportion of available leaf fascicles eaten were higher for experimentally moved caterpillars. Parasitoid abundances were low and did not differ between experimentally moved and stationary caterpillars. Taken together, our study addresses the bottom–up and top–down controls on insect herbivore movement during the short duration of the growing season in the Arctic. Our results suggest that caterpillars are likely moving to new willow shrubs to access high quality resources.

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Interaction between bracken and its insect herbivores

Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Section B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1017/s0269727000008046 ◽

1985 ◽

Vol 86 ◽

pp. 125-131

Author(s):

J. H. Lawton ◽

M. MacGarvin

Keyword(s):

Host Plant ◽

Natural Enemies ◽

Host Plants ◽

Insect Species ◽

Insect Herbivores ◽

The World ◽

Below Ground ◽

One Year ◽

The Impact ◽

Typical Site

SynopsisBracken in Britain is a host for 27 species of insect herbivores, with a further 11 species that either feed below ground (and are poorly studied), or appear to be only rarely associated with the plant. A typical site in northern England has an average of 15–16 of these species in any one year. Compared with perennial herbaceous angiosperms with similar wide distributions, bracken is not noticeably depauperate in the number of insect species that feed upon it. Bracken in others parts of the world is attacked by a wide variety of insects, with more species present in the geographical areas where bracken is most common.The ‘feeding niches’ of some of these insects are reviewed. Most are very rare relative to the biomass of their host plants, probably because of the impact of natural enemies; the effect of most of the insects upon their host-plant is consequently negligible.Reverse effects, of host-plant upon the insects, are subtle but poorly understood. Experiments to elucidate these effects are briefly outlined.

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Meta-Analysis Suggests Differing Indirect Effects of Viral, Bacterial, and Fungal Plant Pathogens on the Natural Enemies of Insect Herbivores

Insects ◽

10.3390/insects11110765 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 11 (11) ◽

pp. 765

Author(s):

Ussawit Srisakrapikoop ◽

Tara J. Pirie ◽

Mark D. E. Fellowes

Keyword(s):

Natural Enemies ◽

Indirect Effects ◽

Plant Pathogens ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

Trophic Levels ◽

Plant Diseases ◽

Plant Quality ◽

Insect Herbivore ◽

Insect Herbivores ◽

Fungal Plant Pathogens

Indirect effects are ubiquitous in nature, and have received much attention in terrestrial plant–insect herbivore–enemy systems. In such tritrophic systems, changes in plant quality can have consequential effects on the behavior and abundance of insect predators and parasitoids. Plant quality as perceived by insect herbivores may vary for a range of reasons, including because of infection by plant pathogens. However, plant diseases vary in their origin (viral, bacterial or fungal) and as a result may have differing effects on plant physiology. To investigate if the main groups of plant pathogens differ in their indirect effects on higher trophic levels, we performed a meta-analysis using 216 measured responses from 29 primary studies. There was no overall effect of plant pathogens on natural enemy traits as differences between pathogen types masked their effects. Infection by fungal plant pathogens showed indirect negative effects on the performance and preference of natural enemies via both chewing and piercing-sucking insect herbivore feeding guilds. Infection by bacterial plant pathogens had a positive effect on the natural enemies (parasitoids) of chewing herbivores. Infection by viral plant pathogens showed no clear effect, although parasitoid preference may be positively affected by their presence. It is important to note that given the limited volume of studies to date on such systems, this work should be considered exploratory. Plant pathogens are very common in nature, and tritrophic systems provide an elegant means to examine the consequences of indirect interactions in ecology. We suggest that further studies examining how plant pathogens affect higher trophic levels would be of considerable value.

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Polarization of foliar reflectance: novel host plant cue for insect herbivores

Proceedings of The Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rspb.2019.2198 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 286 (1915) ◽

pp. 20192198 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Adam J. Blake ◽

Matthew C. Go ◽

Gina S. Hahn ◽

Hayley Grey ◽

Samuel Couture ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Host Plant ◽

Linear Polarization ◽

Host Plants ◽

Pieris Rapae ◽

Polarization Sensitivity ◽

Insect Herbivores ◽

Colour Intensity ◽

Foraging Decisions ◽

Novel Host ◽

Plant Image

Insect herbivores exploit plant cues to discern host and non-host plants. Studies of visual plant cues have focused on colour despite the inherent polarization sensitivity of insect photoreceptors and the information carried by polarization of foliar reflectance, most notably the degree of linear polarization ( DoLP ; 0–100%). The DoLP of foliar reflection was hypothesized to be a host plant cue for insects but was never experimentally tested. Here, we show that cabbage white butterflies, Pieris rapae (Pieridae), exploit the DoLP of foliar reflections to discriminate among plants. In experiments with paired digital plant images, P. rapae females preferred images of the host plant cabbage with a low DoLP (31%) characteristic of cabbage foliage over images of a non-host potato plant with a higher DoLP (50%). By reversing the DoLP of these images, we were able to shift the butterflies' preference for the cabbage host plant image to the potato non-host plant image, indicating that the DoLP had a greater effect on foraging decisions than the differential colour, intensity, or shape of the two plant images. Although previously not recognized, the DoLP of foliar reflection is an essential plant cue that may commonly be exploited by foraging insect herbivores.

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Host-mediated, cross-generational intraspecific competition in a multivoltine herbivore species

10.1101/2020.07.30.228544 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Bastien Castagneyrol ◽

Inge van Halder ◽

Yasmine Kadiri ◽

Laura Schillé ◽

Hervé Jactel

Keyword(s):

Host Plant ◽

Intraspecific Competition ◽

Interference Competition ◽

Growing Season ◽

Egg Laying ◽

Larval Performance ◽

Insect Herbivores ◽

Next Generation ◽

Early Season ◽

Buxus Sempervirens

Conspecific insect herbivores co-occurring on the same host plant interact both directly through interference competition and indirectly through exploitative competition, plant-mediated interactions and enemy-mediated interactions. However, the situation is less clear when the interactions between conspecific insect herbivores are separated in time within the same growing season, as it is the case for multivoltine species. We hypothesized that early season herbivory would result in reduced egg laying and reduced performance of the next generation of herbivore on previously attacked plants. We tested this hypothesis in a choice experiment with box tree moth females, Cydalima perspectalis Walker (Lepidoptera: Crambidae), to which box trees, Buxus sempervirens L. (Buxaceae), were proposed that had or had not been previously defoliated by BTM larvae earlier in the season. We then compared the performance of the next generation larvae on previously damaged vs undamaged plants. Previous herbivory had no effect on oviposition behaviour, but the weight of next generation larvae was significantly lower in previously damaged plants. There was a negative correlation between the number of egg clutches per plant and larval performance. Overall, our findings reveal that early season herbivory reduces the performance of conspecific individuals on the same host plant later in the growing season, and that this time-lagged intraspecific competition results from a mismatch between the oviposition preference of females and the performance of their offspring.

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First record of Heteropsylla tenuata from Argentina (Hemiptera: Psyllidae), and additional notes on other psyllid species

Revista de la Sociedad Entomológica Argentina ◽

10.25085/rsea.800411 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 80 (04) ◽

pp. 142-144

Author(s):

Carla BALIOTTE ◽

Daniel A. AQUINO ◽

Juan P. BOUVET ◽

Gimena DELLAPÉ

Keyword(s):

Host Plant ◽

Geographic Distribution ◽

Natural Enemies ◽

Host Plants ◽

Ornamental Plants ◽

Fruit Trees ◽

First Record ◽

Plant Associations ◽

Relevant Group ◽

First Time

The Psyllidae family is the most diverse within Psylloidea, with more than 1,300 species worldwide. Some psyllid species are important pests mainly of fruit trees, forest and ornamental plants. Despite being an economically relevant group, there are few studies on its biology, geographic distribution, natural enemies or host plant associations for many Argentinean psyllid species. This work records one species from Argentina for the first time, extends the distribution of another two psyllid species and provides information on host plants.

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Plant iron acquisition strategy exploited by an insect herbivore

Science ◽

10.1126/science.aat4082 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 361 (6403) ◽

pp. 694-697 ◽

Cited By ~ 31

Author(s):

L. Hu ◽

P. Mateo ◽

M. Ye ◽

X. Zhang ◽

J. D. Berset ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Iron Uptake ◽

Host Plants ◽

Iron Acquisition ◽

Insect Herbivore ◽

Insect Herbivores ◽

Corn Rootworm ◽

Specialist Herbivore ◽

Maize Plants ◽

Acquisition Strategy ◽

Root Feeding

Insect herbivores depend on their host plants to acquire macro- and micronutrients. Here we asked how a specialist herbivore and damaging maize pest, the western corn rootworm, finds and accesses plant-derived micronutrients. We show that the root-feeding larvae use complexes between iron and benzoxazinoid secondary metabolites to identify maize as a host, to forage within the maize root system, and to increase their growth. Maize plants use these same benzoxazinoids for protection against generalist herbivores and, as shown here, for iron uptake. We identify an iron transporter that allows the corn rootworm to benefit from complexes between iron and benzoxazinoids. Thus, foraging for an essential plant-derived complex between a micronutrient and a secondary metabolite shapes the interaction between maize and a specialist herbivore.

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Secondary Metabolite Profiling of Four Host Plants Leaves of Wild Silk Moth Attacus atlas L.

Indonesian Journal of Biotechnology ◽

10.22146/ijbiotech.25822 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 21 (2) ◽

pp. 117

Author(s):

Lisna Hidayati ◽

Tri Rini Nuringtyas

Keyword(s):

Secondary Metabolites ◽

Host Plant ◽

Host Plants ◽

Spectrophotometric Analysis ◽

The Other ◽

Research Station ◽

Insect Herbivores ◽

Scatter Plot ◽

Total Alkaloids ◽

Silk Moth

Secondary metabolites may affect insect herbivores’ host plant preferences. Attacus atlas L. larvae are known have a wider variety of host plants compared with other members of the Attacus genus. This research compared the metabolic profiles of four A. atlas host plants: keben (Barringtonia asiatica (L.) Kurz), dadap (Erythrina lithosperma Miq.), gempol (Nauclea orientalis L.), and soursop (Annona muricata L.). Leaves were collected from Sawit Sari Research Station, Yogyakarta. Terpenoid was extracted by macerating the leaves in ethyl acetate and subjecting them to GC-MS analysis, while alkaloid, tannin, and flavonoid were extracted through percolation. Total alkaloids, tannins, and flavonoids were measured using spectrophotometric analysis. Multivariate data analysis using PAST ver. 3.0 was performed on the GC-MS data. Based on the PCA scatter plot of the GC-MS data, keben leaves were clustered separately from the other three leaves by PC1. Dadap and gempol leaves were clustered together due to the phytol content while caryophyllene was detected only in soursop leaves. Neophytadiene was detected in all of the leaves, suggesting that this terpenoid may serve as a signal to locate the host plants. Keben leaves contained the lowest alkaloids and highest tannins and flavonoids compared with the other leaves. These secondary metabolites may determine the host plant suitability for culturing the A. atlas.

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Natural enemies of the maize cob borer, Mussidia nigrivenella (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) in Benin, West Africa

Bulletin of Entomological Research ◽

10.1079/ber2002175 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 92 (4) ◽

pp. 343-349 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

M. Sétamou ◽

F. Schulthess ◽

G. Goergen ◽

H.-M. Poehling ◽

C. Borgemeister

Keyword(s):

West Africa ◽

Host Plant ◽

Plant Species ◽

Natural Enemies ◽

Host Plants ◽

Mussidia Nigrivenella ◽

Pupal Parasitoid ◽

Ecological Zones ◽

Pupal Parasitoids ◽

Agro Ecological Zones

AbstractMussidia nigrivenella Ragonot is a pest of maize cobs in West Africa. It significantly reduces maize yields and grain quality, with quantitative losses of 2–25% at harvest, and up to 10–15% indirect losses due to an increase in storage pest infestation levels. Infestation by M. nigrivenella also significantly increased the susceptibility of maize to Aspergillus flavus infection and subsequent aflatoxin contamination. Surveys conducted in different agro-ecological zones of Benin on cultivated and wild host plants during 1994–1997 revealed one egg parasitoid, three larval parasitoids and one pupal parasitoid attacking M. nigrivenella. Egg parasitism was scarce on all host plants sampled and in all four agro-ecological zones. Parasitism by larval and pupal parasitoids was usually less than 10%, and varied with host plant species. Both larval and pupal parasitoids were rare or absent in cultivated maize fields. The solitary chalcidid pupal parasitoid, Antrocephalus crassipes Masi, was the predominant species, contributing approximately 53% of the observed mortality. Logistic regression analysis indicated that this parasitoid was more prevalent on fruits of Gardenia spp. (Rubiaceae) than on the other host plant species including maize used by M. nigrivenella, and was most abundant between February and September. The differences in parasitoid diversity and parasitism between Benin and other regions suggest that there are opportunities for biological control through introduction of exotic parasitoids or using the ‘new association’ approach, which uses natural enemies of closely related host species that occupy similar ecological niches to the target pest.

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Host Plant Limitation of Butterflies in Highly Fragmented Landscapes

10.21203/rs.3.rs-855105/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Elizabeth Crone ◽

Cheryl B. Schultz

Keyword(s):

Host Plant ◽

Host Plants ◽

Resource Competition ◽

Search Time ◽

Monarch Butterfly ◽

Insect Herbivores ◽

Fragmented Landscapes ◽

Density Dependent ◽

Plant Densities ◽

Conservation Plans

Abstract Insect herbivores can be limited by host plants in two ways: density‐dependent competition for food resources, or density‐independent search time limitation. Our understanding of density‐dependent host plant limitation is relatively well developed and well integrated into conservation plans for at‐risk insects. Search time limitation is much less well developed. Here, we explore both mechanisms using empirically‐based models of monarch butterfly population dynamics. These mechanisms differ fundamentally in their predictions: Resource competition leads to matching of herbivore densities to host plant densities, and visible competition via consumption of host plants. Search time limitation leads to changes in population growth rate that can cause herbivore numbers to decline when host plant densities are constant. Search time limitation also implies that host plants can limit herbivores, even when many individual plants are uneaten. For monarch butterflies, our calculations suggest that many parts of North America have host plant densities below the threshold for search time limitation, which contrasts with the typical assumption of resource competition. More generally, incorporating search time limitation into conservation plans is important for reframing our understanding of how host plants limit insect herbivores in highly fragmented landscapes.

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Population Abundance of the Serpentine Leaf Miner Liriomyza trifolii (Burgess) (Diptera: Agromyzidae) on Four Winter Host Plants

Asian Journal of Agricultural and Horticultural Research ◽

10.9734/ajahr/2020/v7i230090 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 8-15

Author(s):

Alansary R. Elkhouly ◽

Elmabruk A. Al Hireereeq ◽

Mohamed, O. Albasha ◽

Husen A. Shafsha

Keyword(s):

Pisum Sativum ◽

Host Plant ◽

Host Plants ◽

Broad Bean ◽

Growing Season ◽

Leaf Miner ◽

Pest Species ◽

Population Abundance ◽

Sonchus Oleraceus ◽

Monthly Average

Background: The American serpentine leafminer, L. trifolii (Burgess), is one of the most problematic insect pest species attacking large number of vegetable crops, weeds and, ornamentals. Objectives: The purpose of this study is to investigate population abundance and host plant preference of L. trifolii on four winter host plants under Libyan conditions. Methods: Four winter host plants were studied [broad bean (Veciafaba), pea (Pisum sativum), fenugreek (trigonella finum gradum) and snow thistle (Sonchus oleraceus)]. The experimental field was about 1600m2 which divided to 12 equal plots (4 plots for each plant). Hundred leaflets infested with L. trifolii were taken from each host plant. Samples were kept in plastic bags and transferred to be examined in the laboratory. Number of living L. trifolii larvae were counted and recorded. Results: Four winter host plants were targeted for this study [broad bean (Veciafaba), pea (Pisum sativum), fenugreek (Trigonella foenum graecum) and snow thistle (Sonchus oleraceus)] during the growing season 2018/2019 in Alejelat region. L trifolii showed low populations in December on all studied host plants. then, developed high populations in February and March then the population decreased till the end of the growing season. L trifolii recorded four peaks of abundance on all host plants, except snow thistle (3 peaks) the highest peak recorded 488, 322, 152 and 187 individuals/ 100 infested leaflets on broad bean, pea, fenugreek and snow thistle respectively. L. trifolii showed its highest monthly average numbers in February on Broad bean, Pea and, Fenugreek recording (383.25 ± 81.05, 256.75 ± 55.18 and, 101.5 ± 37.36 individuals / 100 infested leaflets) respectively and, (153.27 ± 27.10 individuals / 100 infested leaflets) for Snow thistle in April. On the other hand, the lowest monthly average numbers occurred in April on the four studied host plants recording (240.71 ± 113.11, 176.48 ± 59.22, 71.28 ± 24.05 and, 106.28 ± 47.73 individuals / 100 infested leaflets).

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