The Relationship Between Habitat Selection and Preference for Adult and Larval Food Resources in the Polyphagous Butterfly <Emphasis Type="Italic">Vanessa cardui</Emphasis> (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) |
| |
Authors: | Email author" target="_blank">Niklas?JanzEmail author |
| |
Institution: | (1) Department of Zoology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden, 106 91 |
| |
Abstract: | Search strategies can have profound fitness-effects for plant-feeding insects. Here I focus on the potential conflict between
searching for nectar plants and for larval food plants. I test if the butterfly Vanessa cardui, which can use some of its larval food plants as nectar sources, is able to rationalize this search problem by combining
the two search tasks. Lab-experiments revealed a higher oviposition preference for Cirsium arvense over Urtica dioica and a corresponding difference in larval performance. Contrary to predictions, there was no effect of inflorescences on oviposition.
However, experiments in large outdoor cages showed a higher occupancy and a higher level of oviposition in patches with access
to nectar sources, even on U. dioica. Hence, while there was no preference for individual plants with flowers, the results suggests that V. cardui is simplifying its search task to primarily search for hosts in nectar-rich patches. This strategy allows females to increase
oviposition rate, but it is likely that it comes at the expense of not always using optimal host plants in terms of offspring
performance. |
| |
Keywords: | neural limitations search behavior preference– performance nectar preference patch preference |
本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录! |
|