“…We expected females to seek plants with low competitor density because larval density dependence, averaged across the landscape, is strong. In contrast, we expected females to ignore competitor density and to respond mainly to plant traits associated with strength of larval density dependence because competitor density has only a weak effect on fitness on those rare plants with weak density dependence (Wetzel 2014). If oviposition choices were mainly a function of the density of competitors, this would suggest that oviposition behavior were driven by the average plant, which has strong density dependence.…”