Use of chemical variation and predation as plant defenses by Encelia farinosa against a specialist herbivore

Larvae of the monophagous herbivore, Trirhabda geminata , selectively eat particular plants and plant parts of its natural host, Encelia farinosa . Measurements of leaf damage and larval positions on branches through time support this observation. Time-lapse movie photography revealed that larvae ar...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of chemical ecology 1985-11, Vol.11 (11), p.1553-1565
Main Author: Wisdom, C.S
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
ANALISIS QUIMICO
ANALYSE CHIMIQUE
Animal and plant ecology
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Animals
Autoecology
Biological and medical sciences
CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
COMPOSITAE
DEPREDACION
Encelia farinosa
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
General aspects
HERBIVORE
HERBIVORES
HERBIVOROS
PARASITISM
PARASITISME
PARASITISMO
PREDATION
Protozoa. Invertebrata
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Summary:Larvae of the monophagous herbivore, Trirhabda geminata , selectively eat particular plants and plant parts of its natural host, Encelia farinosa . Measurements of leaf damage and larval positions on branches through time support this observation. Time-lapse movie photography revealed that larvae are sufficiently mobile to search most of a plant in a 48-hr period and that aggregations were the result of larval activity and not directly the result of oviposition. Experiments with T. geminata larvae on artificial diets containing a range of natural concentrations of chemical extracts from E. farinosa leaves showed that the larvae grew significantly slower and had a lower overall survivorship at the high concentration. Combining the results of all choice tests, larvae appeared unable to distinguish between high- and low-concentration agar diets.
ISSN:0098-0331
1573-1561
DOI:10.1007/BF01012201