Host plant selection by a monophagous herbivore is not mediated by quantitative changes in unique plant chemistry : Agonopterix alstroemeriana and Conium maculatum
Castells, Eva (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Farmacologia, de Terapèutica i de Toxicologia)
Berenbaum, May

Date:	2008
Abstract:	Host plant selection by ovipositing females is a key process determining the success of phytophagous insects. In oligophagous lepidopterans, host-specific plant secondary chemicals are expected to be dominant factors governing oviposition behavior; distinctive compounds can serve as high-contrast signals that clearly differentiate confamilial hosts from non-hosts increasing the accuracy of host quality evaluation. Agonopterix alstroemeriana (Clerk) (Lepidoptera: Oecophoridae) and Conium maculatum L. (Apiaceae) form an extremely specialized plant-herbivore system, with A. alstroemeriana monophagous on C. maculatum, a plant with few other insect herbivores at least in part due to its virtually unique capacity among plants to produce piperidine alkaloids. Here we have studied the response of A. alstroemeriana oviposition to unique host plant secondary metabolites, piperidine alkaloids, and widespread compounds, mono- and sesquiterpenes, in a concentration-dependent fashion. Rates of oviposition were negatively correlated with Z-ocimene concentrations. To confirm the deterrent properties of this monoterpene for A. alstroemeriana oviposition, we conducted a choice experiment using artificially damaged C. maculatum plants, with higher emission of volatiles, and undamaged control plants. Damaged plants were less preferred as oviposition sites compared to the controls. The lack of association between oviposition and piperidine alkaloids, defenses unique to Conium species, suggests that quantitative changes of these species-specific chemicals do not play a predominant role in host selection by the monophagous A. alstroemeriana.
Rights:	Tots els drets reservats.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Agonopterix alstroemeriana ; Apiaceae ; Conium maculatum ; Host plant selection ; Lepidoptera ; Oecophoridae ; Oviposition ; Piperidine alkaloids ; Specialization ; Terpenes
Published in:	Arthropod-Plant Interactions, Vol. 2 (2008) , p. 43-51, ISSN 1872-8855

DOI: 10.1007/s11829-008-9032-9

32 p, 155.9 KB

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Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Health sciences and biosciences > Chemical Ecology and Toxicology Lab
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles