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Cirino LA. Seasonal shift in diet affects female reproductive anatomy but not mating behavior. Oecologia 2023:10.1007/s00442-023-05398-7. [PMID: 37354252 DOI: 10.1007/s00442-023-05398-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/26/2022] [Accepted: 05/31/2023] [Indexed: 06/26/2023]
Abstract
Females experience considerable environmental variability when breeding seasons are long. Adverse nutritional conditions can result in a reduction in mating and reproduction. However, a return to good nutrition may help animals resume high reproductive investment. I tested the silver spoon hypothesis in which females raised under poor conditions are reproductively limited compared to those raised under good conditions regardless of their adult environment. I used a specialist herbivore, Narnia femorata (Hemiptera: Coreidae), that lives on seasonally changing cacti. I provided juveniles and adults with a cactus pad with fruit (good diet), without fruit (restricted diet), or an improved adult diet (no fruit as juveniles, fruit at adulthood) to simulate a seasonal change in their diets near the end of the breeding season. I found that both ovary size and egg presence were reduced for females fed the restricted diet compared to those fed the good diet. Females fed the improved diet grew large ovaries like those fed the good diet, but few produced any eggs. Interestingly, female mating behavior did not change but females were less attractive to males when fed restricted diets. My results support the silver spoon hypothesis for compensatory growth and suggest that tradeoffs may occur between early survival and future reproduction when females experience a poor early life diet.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lauren A Cirino
- Entomology & Nematology Department, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA.
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Lapham Hall, 3209 N Maryland Ave, Milwaukee, WI, 53211, USA.
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Cirino LA, Moore PJ, Miller CW. High-quality host plant diets partially rescue female fecundity from a poor early start. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2022; 9:211748. [PMID: 35223064 PMCID: PMC8864338 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.211748] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/05/2021] [Accepted: 01/31/2022] [Indexed: 05/03/2023]
Abstract
Nutrition is a dynamic environmental factor and compensatory growth may help animals handle seasonal fluctuations in their diets. Yet, how the dynamic changes in nutrition affect female reproduction is understudied. We took advantage of a specialist insect herbivore, Narnia femorata Stål (Hemiptera: Coreidae), that feeds and reproduces on cactus across three seasons. We first examined how cactus quality can affect female reproductive success. Then, we investigated the extent to which reproductive success can be improved by a switch in diet quality at adulthood. We placed N. femorata juveniles onto prickly pear cactus pads with early-season (low-quality) or late-season (high-quality) fruit and tracked survivorship and development time. A subset of the females raised on low-quality diets were provided with an improved adult diet to simulate a seasonal change in diet. Adult female survival and egg production were tracked over time. All fitness-related traits were lower for females fed low-quality diets compared with females fed high-quality diets. However, when females had access to an improved adult diet, egg production was partially rescued. These findings show that a seasonal improvement in diet can enhance reproduction, but juvenile nutrition still has lasting effects that females cannot overcome.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lauren A. Cirino
- Entomology and Nematology Department, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, US
| | - Patricia J. Moore
- Department of Entomology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, US
| | - Christine W. Miller
- Entomology and Nematology Department, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, US
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Ramos RR, Francini RB, Habib MEEDM, Freitas AVL. Seasonal Patterns of Host Plant Use in an Assemblage of Heliconiini Butterflies (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) in a Neotropical forest. NEOTROPICAL ENTOMOLOGY 2021; 50:358-365. [PMID: 33683560 DOI: 10.1007/s13744-021-00855-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/28/2020] [Accepted: 01/14/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Insect-plant interactions involve physiological adaptations by insects to secondary metabolic compounds synthetized by host plants, which are considered essential for the determination of resources partitioning of these insects. Data on such phenomena are important to understand evolutionary and ecological processes. However, climatic factors also seem to play a key role in affecting these patterns. The present study aimed to investigate the influence of seasonal variation on patterns of host plant use (Passifloraceae) by Heliconiini butterflies (Nymphalidae: Heliconiinae) at a Neotropical site in Southeastern Brazil. A total of 12 species of Heliconiini were reported, with nine of them being resident and using five species of Passiflora (Passifloraceae) as larval host plants. Three host plant species accounted for 97% of the total use, and the use varied along the seasons highlighting the plasticity boundaries in Heliconiini and possible limiting factors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Renato Rogner Ramos
- Depto de Biologia Animal, Instituto de Biologia, Univ Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil.
| | - Ronaldo Bastos Francini
- Curso de Ciências Biológicas, Lab de Biologia da Conservação, Univ Católica de Santos, Santos, Brazil
| | | | - André Victor Lucci Freitas
- Depto de Biologia Animal, Instituto de Biologia, Univ Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil.
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Light environments affect herbivory patterns but not reproductive performance of a multivoltine specialist moth, Pareuchaetes pseudoinsulata. Sci Rep 2020; 10:16868. [PMID: 33037317 PMCID: PMC7547008 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-74079-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/15/2020] [Accepted: 09/25/2020] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
Unravelling the responses of insect herbivores to light-environment-mediated variation in the traits of their host plants is central to our understanding of the nutritional ecology of, and factors driving the population dynamics in, these species. This study examined the effect of light environment (shaded vs full-sun habitat) on leaf toughness and leaf nutritional quality in Chromolaena odorata (an invasive species in West Africa) and related these attributes to the abundance, herbivory patterns and reproductive performance of a multivoltine specialist moth, Pareuchaetes pseudoinsulata (a biological control agent). In this system, plants growing in shaded areas in the field experienced more herbivory and had higher herbivore abundance than those growing in full-sun. In the laboratory, P. pseudoinsulata larvae consumed significantly greater amounts of shaded foliage relative to full-sun foliage. However, reproductive performance metrics such as mating success, pre-oviposition period, number of eggs laid, duration of egg laying, egg hatchability, and adult longevity in P. pseudoinsulata did not differ according to foliage types. Reduced leaf toughness, increased water and nitrogen contents in shaded leaves coincided with increased leaf consumption by the larvae of P. pseudoinsulata. In summary, this study showed for the first time that light environments affect herbivory patterns but not reproductive performance of P. pseudoinsulata and hypothesized that high foliar nitrogen and water contents in shaded leaves resulted in feedback and necessity consumption patterns.
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Huang W, Bont Z, Hervé MR, Robert CAM, Erb M. Impact of Seasonal and Temperature-Dependent Variation in Root Defense Metabolites on Herbivore Preference in Taraxacum officinale. J Chem Ecol 2019; 46:63-75. [PMID: 31832894 PMCID: PMC6954900 DOI: 10.1007/s10886-019-01126-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/09/2019] [Revised: 11/08/2019] [Accepted: 11/18/2019] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
Abstract
Plants experience seasonal fluctuations in abiotic and biotic factors such as herbivore attack rates. If and how root defense expression co-varies with seasonal fluctuations in abiotic factors and root herbivore attack rates is not well understood. Here, we evaluated seasonal changes in defensive root latex chemistry of Taraxacum officinale plants in the field and correlated the changes with seasonal fluctuations in abiotic factors and damage potential by Melolontha melolontha, a major natural enemy of T. officinale. We then explored the causality and consequences of these relationships under controlled conditions. The concentration of the defensive sesquiterpene lactone taraxinic acid β-D glucopyranosyl ester (TA-G) varied substantially over the year and was most strongly correlated to mean monthly temperature. Both temperature and TA-G levels were correlated with annual fluctuations in potential M. melolontha damage. Under controlled conditions, plants grown under high temperature produced more TA-G and were less attractive for M. melolontha. However, temperature-dependent M. melolontha feeding preferences were not significantly altered in TA-G deficient transgenic lines. Our results suggest that fluctuations in temperature leads to variation in the production of a root defensive metabolites that co-varies with expected attack of a major root herbivore. Temperature-dependent herbivore preference, however, is likely to be modulated by other phenotypic alterations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wei Huang
- Institute of Plant Sciences, University of Bern, Altenbergrain 21, 3013, Bern, Switzerland. .,CAS Key Laboratory of Aquatic Botany and Watershed Ecology, Wuhan Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, 430074, Hubei, China.
| | - Zoe Bont
- Institute of Plant Sciences, University of Bern, Altenbergrain 21, 3013, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Maxime R Hervé
- Institute of Plant Sciences, University of Bern, Altenbergrain 21, 3013, Bern, Switzerland.,Inra, Agrocampus Ouest, IGEPP - UMR-A 1349, University of Rennes, F-35000, Rennes, France
| | - Christelle A M Robert
- Institute of Plant Sciences, University of Bern, Altenbergrain 21, 3013, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Matthias Erb
- Institute of Plant Sciences, University of Bern, Altenbergrain 21, 3013, Bern, Switzerland.
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Guiguet A, Hamatani A, Amano T, Takeda S, Lopez-Vaamonde C, Giron D, Ohshima I. Inside the horn of plenty: Leaf-mining micromoth manipulates its host plant to obtain unending food provisioning. PLoS One 2018; 13:e0209485. [PMID: 30576396 PMCID: PMC6303051 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0209485] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2018] [Accepted: 12/06/2018] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Leaves represent the main resource for herbivorous insects and their performances are mainly a function of leaf nutritional quality. Two feeding strategies are known to optimize the exploitation of leaf resources: leaf-miners that selectively feed on tissues of high nutritional quality and gall-inducers that induce the development of a new tissue showing an enhanced nutritional value. Some leaf-miners are known to also manipulate their nutritional environment, but do not affect plant development. Cases of callus proliferation in leaf-mines have been reported, however, the direct role of the insect in the formation of additional plant cells and the nutritional function of this tissue have never been established. Using an experimental approach, we show that leaf-mining larvae of micromoth, Borboryctis euryae (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae), that grow on Eurya japonica (Pentaphylacaceae), actively induce callus proliferation within their leaf-mine at the fourth instar. We experimentally demonstrated that, at this developmental stage, the larva feeds exclusively on this newly formed tissue and feeding of the tissue is essential for completing larval stage. Phenological census revealed considerable expansion and variation of fourth instar duration caused by the continuous production of callus. We propose here the "cornucopia" hypothesis which states that the newly produced callus induced by the leaf-mining larvae provides virtually unending nourishment, which in turn allows flexible larval development time. This represents the first example of a leaf-miner manipulating plant development to its benefit, like a gall-inducer. We propose to name this life style "mine-galler".
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Affiliation(s)
- Antoine Guiguet
- Institut de Recherche sur la Biologie de l’Insecte, UMR 7261, CNRS/Université de Tours, UFR Sciences et Techniques, Tours, France
- Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, Kyoto Prefectural University, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Akihisa Hamatani
- Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, Kyoto Prefectural University, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Taisuke Amano
- Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, Kyoto Prefectural University, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Seiji Takeda
- Cell and Genome Biology, Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Kyoto Prefectural University, Kyoto, Japan
- Biotechnology Research Department, Kyoto Prefectural Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries Technology Center, Seika, Soraku–gun, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Carlos Lopez-Vaamonde
- Institut de Recherche sur la Biologie de l’Insecte, UMR 7261, CNRS/Université de Tours, UFR Sciences et Techniques, Tours, France
- INRA, UR0633 Zoologie Forestière, Orléans, France
| | - David Giron
- Institut de Recherche sur la Biologie de l’Insecte, UMR 7261, CNRS/Université de Tours, UFR Sciences et Techniques, Tours, France
| | - Issei Ohshima
- Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, Kyoto Prefectural University, Kyoto, Japan
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