| 1. |
- Anderson, Peter, et al.
(författare)
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Larval host plant experience modulates both mate finding and oviposition choice in a moth
- 2013
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Ingår i: Animal Behaviour. - : Elsevier BV. - 0003-3472 .- 1095-8282. ; 85, s. 1169-1175
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Host plant choice in polyphagous insects can be connected with costs of being naive when confronted with several potential host plants, for example through slower decision making. Utilization of earlier experience could be one way to overcome some of these limitations. We studied whether larval feeding experience influences mate finding by males and female choice of oviposition site in the moth Spodoptera littoralis. Larvae were reared on either artificial diet or the host plants, cotton, clover or alfalfa, and we recorded the behaviour of adults from each diet. In two sets of experiments, in both the laboratory and the field, we investigated the female's oviposition choice and the male's response to female pheromone with different plant odour backgrounds. We found that experience with cotton, clover or alfalfa during the larval period induced female oviposition on the corresponding plant both in the laboratory and in the field. Furthermore, males were more attracted to female sex pheromone combined with odour from a host plant species that they had experienced as larvae than to sex pheromone combined with odour from host plant species they had not experienced. The results show convergent modulation of male and female responses to plant odour depending on their larval food plant. The influence of larval experience during the first-to-fifth instars on host preference was also stronger than the influence of experience acquired in the late larval, pupal and early adult stages. Consequences for host plant choice efficiency and fitness effects for males and females are discussed. (C) 2013 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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| 2. |
- Thöming, Gunda, et al.
(författare)
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Adjusting the scent ratio: using genetically modified Vitis vinifera plants to manipulate European grapevine moth behaviour
- 2018
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Ingår i: Plant Biotechnology Journal. - : Wiley. - 1467-7644 .- 1467-7652. ; 16, s. 264-271
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Herbivorous insects use olfactory cues to locate their host plant within a complex olfactory landscape. One such example is the European grapevine moth Lobesia botrana, a key pest of the grape in the Palearctic region, which recently expanded both its geographical and host plant range. Previous studies have showed that a synthetic blend of the three terpenoids, (E)-beta-caryophyllene, (E)-beta-farnesene and (E)-4,8-dimethyl-1,3,7-nonatriene (DMNT), was as attractive for the moth as the complete grape odour profile in laboratory conditions. The same studies also showed that the specific ratio of these compounds in the grape bouquet was crucial because a percentage variation in any of the three volatiles resulted in almost complete inhibition of the blend's attractiveness. Here, we report on the creation of stable grapevine transgenic lines, with modified (E)-beta-caryophyllene and (E)-beta-farnesene emission and thus with an altered ratio compared to the original plants. When headspace collections from these plants were tested in wind tunnel behavioural assays, they were less attractive than control extracts. This result was confirmed by testing synthetic blends imitating the ratio found on natural and transformed plants, as well as by testing the plants themselves. With this evidence, we suggest that a strategy based on volatile ratio modification may also interfere with the host-finding behaviour of L. botrana in the field, creating avenues for new pest control methods.
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| 3. |
- Thöming, Gunda, et al.
(författare)
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Comparison of plant preference hierarchies of male and female moths and the impact of larval rearing hosts
- 2013
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Ingår i: Ecology. - : Wiley. - 0012-9658 .- 1939-9170. ; 94, s. 1744-1752
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Selection of a suitable host plant is essential for the fitness of herbivorous insects. For polyphagous insects the underlying proximate mechanisms for host plant selection, including phenotypic plasticity, remain only partially understood. We established an experimental protocol evaluating preferences to five plant species in males and females of the polyphagous moth Spodoptera littoralis. Female preference hierarchies were assessed by oviposition decisions; those of males were assessed by the attraction to female sex pheromones in background odors of different plant species. The experiments revealed clear preference hierarchies in both males and females, which were partly overlapping in spite of the different behavioral contexts of the respective assays. Furthermore, we demonstrated strong effects of the larval rearing host on adult plant preference, where the larval host plant species was generally elevated to the most preferred plant in both sexes, without otherwise affecting the overall preference hierarchy. Our results suggest that both sexes are involved in host plant choice and that experience-based convergent intersexual plant preferences may confer selective advantages. The host plant choice is guided by a stable plant preference hierarchy, which can be modified by the larval rearing host, permitting fast adaptation to variation in local conditions and to novel environments. It may also provide a mechanism for reducing costs associated with polyphagy by functional plasticity in plant choice.
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| 4. |
- Thöming, Gunda, et al.
(författare)
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Pea moth
- 2011
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Ingår i: Compendium of Chickpea and Lentil Diseases and Pests. - 9780890543832 ; , s. 13-15
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
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