Host selection by the pine processionary moth enhances larval performance: An experiment |
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| Institution: | 1. Departamento de Zoología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Granada, E-18071 Granada, Spain;2. Departamento de Ecología Funcional y Evolutiva, Estación Experimental de Zonas Áridas (C.S.I.C.), C/General Segura 1, E-04001 Almería, Spain;3. Grupo Coevolución, Unidad Asociada al CSIC, Universidad de Granada, Spain;1. Department of Botany and Zoology, Masaryk University, Kotlářská 2, CZ-611 37 Brno, Czech Republic;2. Institute of Botany, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta 9, SK-845 23 Bratislava, Slovakia;3. Department of Plant Ecology and Environmental Conservation, Faculty of Biology, Biological and Chemical Research Centre, University of Warsaw, ul. Żwirki i Wigury 101, PL-02-096 Warsaw, Poland;1. Centre for Invasion Biology, Department of Botany and Zoology, Stellenbosch University, Private Bag X1, Matieland 7602, South Africa;2. Invasive Species Programme, South African National Biodiversity Institute, Kirstenbosch Research Centre, Claremont 7735, South Africa;1. NSERC/UQAT/UQAM Industrial Chair in Sustainable Forest Management, Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue, 445, boulevard de l''Université, Rouyn-Noranda, Québec J9X 5E4, Canada;2. Institut des sciences de la forêt tempérée, Université du Québec en Outaouais, 58, rue Principale, Ripon, Québec, J0V 1V0, Canada |
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| Abstract: | The development of a phytophagous insect depends on the nutritional characteristics of plants on which it feeds. Offspring from different females, however, may vary in their ability to develop in different host species and therefore females should place their eggs on host plants that result in the highest performance for the insect offspring. Causes underlying the predicted relationships between host selection and offspring performance may be: (1) a genetic association between larval ability to exploit particular hosts and the female insect's host preference; and (2) phenotypic plasticity of larvae that may be due to (a) maternal effects (e.g. differential investment in eggs) or (b) diet. In this work, we analyse the performance (i.e. hatching success and larval size and mortality) of the pine processionary (Thaumetopoea pityocampa) caterpillar developing in Aleppo (Pinus halepensis) or maritime (Pinus pinaster) pines. Larvae of this moth species do not move from the individual pine selected by the mother for oviposition. By means of cross-fostering experiments of eggs batches and silk nests of larvae between these two pine species, we explored whether phenotypic plasticity of offspring traits or genetic correlations between mother and offspring traits account for variation in developmental characteristics of caterpillars. Our results showed that females preferentially selected Aleppo pine for oviposition. Moreover, the offspring had the highest probability of survival and reached a larger body size in this pine species independently of whether or not batches were experimentally cross-fostered. Notably, the interaction between identity of donor and receiver pine species of larvae nests explained a significant proportion of variance of larval size and mortality, suggesting a role of diet-induced phenotypic plasticity of the hatchlings. These results suggest that both female selection of the more appropriate pine species and phenotypic plasticity of larva explain the performance of pine processionary caterpillars. |
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| Keywords: | Developmental plasticity Maternal effects Phenotypic plasticity Preference-performance relationships |
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