Sammanfattning

Unlike mammals, most invertebrates provide no direct parental care for their progeny, which makes a well-selected oviposition site crucial. However, little is known about the female evaluation of opportunities and threats during host selection. Leveraging the wide range of host plants used by the polyphagous pest, Spodoptera littoralis, we investigate oviposition choice between two plants of different nutritional quality. Females prefer to lay their eggs on the host plant, which has inferior larval development and more natural enemies but provides lower predation rates. On the superior host plant, a major predator shows more successful search behavior and is more attracted to herbivore-induced volatiles. Our findings show that predator efficacy and odor-guided attraction, rather than predator abundance, determine enemy free space. We postulate that predators’ behaviors contribute to the weak correlation between preference and performance during host plant selection in S. littoralis and in polyphagous insects in general.

Publicerad i

iScience
2023, Volym: 26, nummer: 2, artikelnummer: 106077

SLU författare

• Khallaf, Mohammed

  • Institutionen för växtskyddsbiologi, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
    
  • Assiut University

• Anderson, Peter

  • Institutionen för växtskyddsbiologi, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
    

Associerade SLU-program

SLU Nätverk växtskydd


Globala målen

Skydda, återställa och främja ett hållbart nyttjande av landbaserade ekosystem, hållbart bruka skogar, bekämpa ökenspridning, hejda och vrida tillbaka markförstöringen samt hejda förlusten av biologisk mångfald


UKÄ forskningsämne

Ekologi
Zoologi
Etologi


Publikationens identifierare

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2023.106077

Permanent länk till denna sida (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/121981