Effects of host plant quality on overwintering success of the leaf beetle Chrysomela lapponica (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae)
2002
Zvereva, E.L. (University of Turku (Finland). Section of Ecology)
The effects of density-dependent variation in host plant quality on adult feeding and overwintering success of the leaf beetle Chrysomela lapponica were studied. During pre-overwintering period adult beetles were fed in the laboratory on host plants, Salix borealis, originating from a) a site with low density population of C. lapponica, b) a site with peak density of C. lapponica, and c) a post-outbreak site. Beetles fed on plants from low density and peak density sites demonstrated similar performance, whereas those on plants from post-outbreak site fed longer, gained more weight, had higher water content, and experienced greater mortality during overwintering. The total carbon concentration in host plant foliage explained variation in most beetle performance indices, while total nitrogen did not correlate with beetle performance. Damage-induced decrease in quality of host plants from post-outbreak sites (delayed inducible resistance, DIR), associated with increase in carbon-containing defensive compounds, was earlier found to increase larval mortality. Results of the current study suggest that DIR can also disturb pre-overwintering feeding and thus increase winter mortality of adult beetles, enhancing post-outbreak density decline.
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