Vive la variance: a functional oviposition theory for insect herbivores

Roitberg, Bernard D.; Robertson, Ian Ross; Tyerman, Jabus

doi:10.1046/j.1570-7458.1999.00483.x

Cited by 25 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…Time and egg costs determine oviposition cost together (Godfray, 1994;Rosenheim, 1999b;Jervis et al, 2008). Females adjust clutch size when faced with life-history constraints and produce smaller costs (Roitberg et al, 1999;Sahragard et al, 1991;Jervis et al, 2007). If host availability is high, egg limitation is distinctively advantageous in the context of ovipositional limitation (Rosenheim, 1996).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Insect oviposition plasticity in response to host availability: the case of the tephritid fruit fly Bactrocera dorsalis

Zhou

Xiao

et al. 2012

Ecological Entomology

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1. Insect oviposition behaviour is ecologically and physiologically plastic. For tephritid fruit flies, Bactrocera dorsalis Hendel, host availability varies spatially and temporally. Females are expected to adopt adaptive oviposition strategies to maximise lifetime reproductive fitness, including survival. Bactrocera dorsalis oviposition tactics in response to different host availabilities were investigated.2. This study includes three treatments: (i) variable host densities (host density varied according to a fixed cycle from day to day over values of 1, 5, 10 and 20 hosts per cage), (ii) a fixed high host density (20 hosts per cage), and (iii) a fixed low host density (1 host per cage).3. Daily egg-laying number per female over the course of 27 days was entirely independent of host density and highly dependent on female age. As host availability increased, females accepted significantly more hosts, generally laid small egg clutches, and more broadly distributed the eggs.4. Tephritid fruit flies adaptively adjusted egg clutches in ways that reflected the variability of host availability. Egg-and time-limitation constraints appeared to drive these adjustments. Female egg maturation was triggered by oviposition activity and reflected marked lifetime trade-offs. Such strategies involved specific time schedules for egg laying.5.This study defined the oviposition plasticity of the tephritid fruit fly. These results have general implications for the behavioural ecology of insect herbivores and parasitoids.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Insect oviposition plasticity in response to host availability: the case of the tephritid fruit fly Bactrocera dorsalis

Zhou

Xiao

et al. 2012

Ecological Entomology

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“…This, however, is tempered by the fact that when the host plant is highly stimulating the insect has to visit fewer leaves and so has less chance of making an inappropriate landing. In addition, the highly-stimulating plants invariably induce the individual insects to lay more eggs (Roitberg et al, 1999). Detailed descriptions of the multitude of other factors involved during host plant acceptance can be found in many of the papers published recently in the proceedings of the Tenth International Symposium on Insect-Plant Relationships (Simpson et al, 1999).…”

Section: Description and Discussion Of The New Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Host‐plant selection by insects – a theory based on ‘appropriate/inappropriate landings’ by pest insects of cruciferous plants

Finch¹,

Collier²

2000

Entomologia Exp Applicata

538

347

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Seven hypotheses, including the 'Resource Concentration Hypothesis' and the 'Enemies Hypothesis', have been put forward to explain why fewer specialist insects are found on host plants growing in diverse backgrounds than on similar plants growing in bare soil. All seven hypotheses are discussed and discounted, primarily because no one has used any of them to produce a general theory of host plant selection, they still remain as hypotheses. However, we have developed a general theory based on detailed observations of insect behaviour. Our theory is based on the fact that during host plant finding the searching insects land indiscriminately on green objects such as the leaves of host plants (appropriate landings) and non-host plants (inappropriate landings), but avoid landing on brown surfaces, such as soil. The complete system of host plant selection involves a three-link chain of events in which the first link is governed by cues from volatile plant chemicals, the central link by visual stimuli, and the final link by cues from non-volatile plant chemicals. The previously 'missing' central link, which is based on what we have described as 'appropriate/inappropriate landings', is governed by visual stimuli. Our theory explains why attempts to show that olfaction is the crucial component in the central link of host plant selection proved intractable. The 'appropriate/inappropriate landings' theory is discussed to indicate the type of work needed in future studies to improve our understanding of how intercropping, undersowing and companion planting can be used to optimum effect in crop protection. The new theory is used also to suggest how insect biotypes could develop and to describe why pest insects do not decimate wild host plants growing in 'natural' situations.

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“…As several authors have pointed out, optimal solutions for maximising brood per parent and those for minimising the likelihood of total failure to reproduce are not always identical (reviewed in Roitberg et al . 1999). This is especially problematic for bark beetles, which often deposit their entire clutch in one host (although some species appear more adept at leaving a host to deposit additional eggs elsewhere (Coulson 1979)).…”

Section: Between the Devil And The Deep Blue Sea: Trade-offs Between mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There is a strong trend for so-called ''less-aggressive'' species to significantly reduce fitness of ''more-aggressive'' species, and generally outcompete them in field and laboratory studies (Table 3B, 3C). Some of these trade-offs are ''quantitative'', such as reduced resource per individual or reduced nutritional value of unhealthy trees, whereas others are ''qualitative'' or ''catastrophic'' (Roitberg et al 1999), such as a beetle being killed by a tree that resists attack or dying before finding a host that it accepts. As several authors have pointed out, optimal solutions for maximising brood per parent and those for minimising the likelihood of total failure to reproduce are not always identical (reviewed in Roitberg et al 1999).…”

Section: Speciesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolution of tree killing in bark beetles (Coleoptera: Curculionidae): trade-offs between the maddening crowds and a sticky situation

Lindgren

Raffa

2013

Can Entomol

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Bark beetles (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) play important roles in temperate conifer ecosystems, and also cause substantial economic losses. Although their general life histories are relatively similar, different species vary markedly in the physiological condition of the hosts they select. Most of ∼6000 known species colonise dead or stressed trees, a resource they share with a large diversity of insects and other organisms. A small number of bark beetle species kill healthy, live trees. These few are of particular interest as they compete directly with humans for resources. We propose that tree killing evolved when intense interspecific competition in the ephemeral, scarce resource of defence-impaired trees selected for genotypes that allowed them to escape this limitation by attacking relatively healthy trees. These transitions were uncommon, and we suggest they were facilitated by (a) genetically and phenotypically flexible host selection behaviours, (b) biochemical adaptations for detoxifying a wide range of defence compounds, and (c) associations with symbionts, which together aided bark beetles in overcoming formidable constitutive and induced host defences. The ability to detoxify terpenes influenced the evolutionary course of pheromonal communication. Specifically, a mate attraction system, which was exploited by intraspecific competitors in locating poorly defended hosts, became a system of cooperative attack in which emitters benefit from the contributions responders make in overcoming defence. This functional shift in communication was driven in part by linkage of beetle semiochemistry to host defence chemistry. Behavioural and phenological adaptations also improved the beetles’ abilities to detect when tree defences are impaired, and, where compatible with life history adaptations to other selective forces, for flight to coincide with seasonally predictable host stress agents. We propose a conceptual model, whereby the above mechanisms enable beetles to concentrate on those trees that offer an optimal trade-off between host defence and interspecific competition, along dynamic gradients of tree vigour and stand-level beetle density. We offer suggestions for future research on testing elements of this model.

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Vive la variance: a functional oviposition theory for insect herbivores

Cited by 25 publications

References 45 publications

Insect oviposition plasticity in response to host availability: the case of the tephritid fruit fly Bactrocera dorsalis

Insect oviposition plasticity in response to host availability: the case of the tephritid fruit fly Bactrocera dorsalis

Host‐plant selection by insects – a theory based on ‘appropriate/inappropriate landings’ by pest insects of cruciferous plants

Evolution of tree killing in bark beetles (Coleoptera: Curculionidae): trade-offs between the maddening crowds and a sticky situation

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