Choosing a place to grow. Importance of within‐plant abiotic microenvironment for Yponomeuta mahalebella

Abstract

The caterpillars of Yponomeuta mahalebella Latr. (Lepidoptera: Yponomeutidae) are monophagous on Prunus mahaleb (Rosaceae) leaves. Adult females deposit eggs in batches, which determines larval gregarious behaviour. Coupled with gregarious behaviour, caterpillars spin silk tents within they will feed until pupation. Distribution of tents in the field, their effect in microenvironmental larval growth conditions and the consequences for adult body mass and survival of larvae were studied. There was a significant trend for tents to be placed with a southward orientation. Within‐plant tent orientation was related to the sun‐shade pattern experienced, which was the main effect determining thermal differences between the inside and the outside of the tent. These differences appeared to affect larval growth and survival, with higher survival of larvae and heavier adults emerging from tents oriented to the south‐east and east, respectively.

Preferences of six leaf beetle species among qualitatively different leaf age classes of three Salicaceous host species

“…Hopefully, the data will increase our understanding of the leaf beetle responses to simultaneous variation in several leaf traits of host plants. However, the prediction of intra-plant distribution of leaf beetle herbivory in the field was outside the scope of my work, since in nature many factors such as variation in microclimatic conditions, may strongly affect behaviour of insect herbivores and even overcome the effect of variable food quality (Raupp & Denno 1983;Alonso 1997;Sipura 2000;Sipura et al submitted).…”

Parasitism cost of living in a high quality habitat in the bog fritillary butterfly

“…They are intimately linked in the field in the way they define the suitable micro-environment for the species. Some vegetation features, such as vegetation height and structural complexity, are known to influence the incidence of caterpillars in some butterfly species (Anthes et al 2003;Betzholtz et al 2007), while microclimate is important for caterpillar development (Alonso 1997;Kuhrt et al 2005). Boloria eunomia is an ectothermic glacial relict species and accordingly depends upon precise thermal microenvironments to attain and/or maintain optimal body temperatures.…”

“…It is therefore not surprising that at the microhabitat scale caterpillars are preferentially found in cooler and more humid conditions. Plant architecture, like grass tussocks, have been shown to offer a variety of temperature conditions (Gotthard 2008) that can be used by caterpillars through behavioural thermoregulation (Alonso 1997;Turlure et al 2011a, b). Nevertheless, we did not detect any effect of the abundance (or presence vs. absence) of tussocks on caterpillar density; this effect was probably already included in the effect of the synthetic descriptors of vegetation composition.…”

A perspective on the importance of within-tree variation in mortality risk for a leaf-mining insect

“…Moreover, the microhabitat conditions that surround an herbivore while it feeds can directly influence its performance, growth, and survival through differences in temperature, humidity, and exposure to natural enemies and pathogens (Alonso, 1997;Cornelissen and Stiling, 2006;Kang et al, 2009). Therefore, the decision of where to feed for an herbivore can be critical for both survival and fecundity, since the plant serves as both a shelter and a food resource (Connor and Taverner, 1997).…”