Insect responses to plant water deficits. II. Effect of water deficits in soybean plants on the growth and survival of Mexican bean beetle larvae

McQuate, Grant T.; Connor, Edward F.

doi:10.1111/j.1365-2311.1990.tb00826.x

Cited by 16 publications

(7 citation statements)

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“…Differences in adult feeding preference and larval developmental rate among habitats, both in the field and the laboratory, suggest alteration of bean plant quality by the associated tall corn. Mexican bean beetle larvae develop more slowly and gain less mass on drought-stressed plants (McQuate and Connor 1990), but water availability in bean foliage did not differ significantly among habitats in our study. Thus, water-stress cannot be invoked to explain slow larval development.…”

Section: Larval Development and Survivalcontrasting

confidence: 64%

Effects of Nonhost Plant on an Insect Herbivore in Diverse Habitats

Coll¹,

Bottrell²

1994

Ecology

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Vegetation texture (i.e., plant density, species diversity, and structural complexity) may influence the abundance of a herbivore by affecting its movement, altering the suitability of host plants, and by changing the herbivore's vulnerability to attack by natural enemies. We investigated these effects on the Mexican bean beetle (Epilachna varivestis) on snap bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) growing in high—and low—density monocultures and intercropped with short (0.5 m) or tall (1.2 m) corn plants (Zea mays). Beetle populations consistently reached higher densities on beans in monocultures than on beans intercropped with tall corn. Neither bean plant density nor plant species diversity alone significantly affected beetle abundance. Instead, the presence of tall corn plants contributed most to lower bean beetle density in the tall corn—bean intercrop, primarily by reducing adult colonization. However, the tall corn also increased the suitability of intercropped bean plants to the beetles because adults preferred to feed on and larvae developed faster on beans in the tall corn—bean habitat. Host plant effects were independent of the influence of microclimate and risk of predation. Abundance of natural enemies of the bean beetle was low and overall, predator density and bean beetle larval survival did not differ significantly among habitats. However, it is difficult to predict the effect or mortality factors, such as natural enemies, on bean beetle populations because larval mortality over time was affected by habitat type (i.e., there was a significant interaction between habitat type and time). Our results were partially consistent with the resource concentration hypothesis. Whereas Mexican bean beetles colonized bean monocultures more readily than they did tall corn—bean diculture, the presence of more suitable host plants in the diculture acted to increase, rather than decrease, bean beetle density in the tall corn—bean habitat. However, higher adult feeding preference and faster larval development on beans in the tall corn—bean habitat did not offset lower adult colonization in this habitat.

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Section: Larval Development and Survivalcontrasting

confidence: 64%

Effects of Nonhost Plant on an Insect Herbivore in Diverse Habitats

Coll¹,

Bottrell²

1994

Ecology

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“…Herbivorous insects can perceive the changes in host plant water status and avoid feeding on plants suffering from a water deficit (Chown et al, ; McQuate & Connor, ,b). Furthermore, the changes in the water status of the host can even mediate the interaction between below‐ and above‐ground herbivorous insects.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plant stomatal closure improves aphid feeding under elevated CO₂

Sun

Guo

Liu

et al. 2015

Global Change Biology

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Stomata help plants regulate CO absorption and water vapor release in response to various environmental changes, and plants decrease their stomatal apertures and enhance their water status under elevated CO . Although the bottom-up effect of elevated CO on insect performance has been extensively studied, few reports have considered how insect fitness is altered by elevated CO -induced changes in host plant water status. We tested the hypothesis that aphids induce stomatal closure and increase host water potential, which facilitates their passive feeding, and that this induction can be enhanced by elevated CO . Our results showed that aphid infestation triggered the abscisic acid (ABA) signaling pathway to decrease the stomatal apertures of Medicago truncatula, which consequently decreased leaf transpiration and helped maintain leaf water potential. These effects increased xylem-feeding time and decreased hemolymph osmolarity, which thereby enhanced phloem-feeding time and increased aphid abundance. Furthermore, elevated CO up-regulated an ABA-independent enzyme, carbonic anhydrase, which led to further decrease in stomatal aperture for aphid-infested plants. Thus, the effects of elevated CO and aphid infestation on stomatal closure synergistically improved the water status of the host plant. The results indicate that aphid infestation enhances aphid feeding under ambient CO and that this enhancement is increased under elevated CO .

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“…No studies involving excised needles, leaves, or bolts of wood were included. We imposed this restriction because there is evidence that insects raised on intact water-stressed plants can respond differently than when they are reared on excised foliage from stressed plants (McQuate and Connor 1990), a difference that likely results from the interrupted translocation and accumulation of stress-induced compounds in excised leaves (Peel 1974, Aspinall andPaleg 1981). Last, studies that used techniques other than water manipulation to achieve water deficit, such as polyethylene glycol (Sumner et al 1983(Sumner et al , 1986 or dry ice (e.g., Lorio et al 1995), were excluded.…”

Section: Criteria For Including Studies In the Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plant Water Stress and Its Consequences for Herbivorous Insects: A New Synthesis

Huberty

Denno

2004

Ecology

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717

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Traditionally, herbivorous insects are thought to exhibit enhanced performance and outbreak dynamics on water‐stressed host plants due to induced changes in plant physiology. Recent experimental studies, however, provide mixed support for this historical view. To test the plant‐stress hypothesis (PSH), we employed two methods (the traditional vote‐counting approach and meta‐analysis) to assess published studies that investigated insect responses to experimentally induced water‐deficit in plants. For insects, we examined how water deficit affects survivorship, fecundity, density, relative growth rate, and oviposition preference. Responses were analyzed by major feeding guild (sap‐feeding insects and chewing insects) and for the subguilds of sap‐feeders (phloem, mesophyll, and xylem feeders) and chewing insects (free‐living chewers, borers, leaf miners, and gall‐formers). Both vote counting and meta‐analysis found strong negative effects of water stress on the performance of sap‐feeding insects at large and on members of the phloem‐ and mesophyll‐feeding subguilds in particular. Both analytical techniques demonstrated a nonsignificant response for chewing insects at large due to the offsetting effects of water stress on the different subguilds. For example, our analyses found consistent positive responses for borers, negative responses for gall‐formers, and inconsistent responses for free‐living species and leaf miners. Overall, our analyses strongly challenge the historical view that herbivorous insects exhibit elevated performance and outbreak dynamics on water‐stressed plants. Rather, there is widespread evidence that many phytophagous insects, especially sap‐feeders, are adversely affected by continuous water stress. Despite enhanced foliar nitrogen during times of plant stress, concurrent reductions in turgor and water content interfere with an herbivore's ability to access or utilize nitrogen. To explain the discrepancy between the observed outbreaks of phytophagous insects on water‐stressed plants in nature and the negative effects detected in many experimental studies where plants are continuously stressed, we propose a “pulsed stress hypothesis” whereby bouts of stress and the recovery of turgor allow sap‐ feeders to benefit from stress‐induced increases in plant nitrogen. Our finding that phloem‐ feeding insects respond positively on intermittently stressed plants but exhibit poor performance on continuously stressed ones is consistent with this hypothesis and suggests that the phenology of water stress as it mediates nitrogen availability may hold the key to understanding how water stress affects the population dynamics of insect herbivores.

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Insect responses to plant water deficits. II. Effect of water deficits in soybean plants on the growth and survival of Mexican bean beetle larvae

Cited by 16 publications

References 50 publications

Effects of Nonhost Plant on an Insect Herbivore in Diverse Habitats

Effects of Nonhost Plant on an Insect Herbivore in Diverse Habitats

Plant stomatal closure improves aphid feeding under elevated CO₂

Plant Water Stress and Its Consequences for Herbivorous Insects: A New Synthesis

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Insect responses to plant water deficits. II. Effect of water deficits in soybean plants on the growth and survival of Mexican bean beetle larvae

Cited by 16 publications

References 50 publications

Effects of Nonhost Plant on an Insect Herbivore in Diverse Habitats

Effects of Nonhost Plant on an Insect Herbivore in Diverse Habitats

Plant stomatal closure improves aphid feeding under elevated CO2

Plant Water Stress and Its Consequences for Herbivorous Insects: A New Synthesis

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Plant stomatal closure improves aphid feeding under elevated CO₂