Abstract

Knowledge of the plasticity of Phratora vulgatissima (Colepotera: Chrysomelidae) behavioural responses to cues of its willow host plants is essential for understanding host affiliations of this species and for developing management strategies. We investigated how the experience obtained by adult P. vulgatissima with two different willow species shapes olfactory, feeding and oviposition preferences in the laboratory. The willow species differed in their leaf odours and phenolic glycoside contents. Females that had experienced Salix viminalis (Salicaceae) neither discriminated between odours of S. viminalis and Salix dasyclados, nor between blends of green leaf volatiles (GLV) that mimic quantitatively those released by S. viminalis and S. dasyclados. However, when females had experienced S. dasyclados, they preferred the experienced odour of S. dasyclados and the respective GLV blend to the odour of S. viminalis or its GLV blend. By contrast, regardless of their experience obtained in the adult stage, females preferred S. viminalis over S. dasyclados for feeding and oviposition. Exposure of beetles to odour of stands with various willow species might affect the experience-induced olfactory preference for a single species and thus impair host location success.

Keywords

Adult experience; Chrysomelidae; feeding; olfaction; oviposition; phenotypic plasticity; Phratora vulgatissima; plant location; Salicaceae

Published in

Agricultural and Forest Entomology
2014, Volume: 16, number: 4, pages: 417-425
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

SLU Authors

• Björkman, Christer

  • Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Ecology


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/afe.12071

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/63761