Nomikou Maria, Janssen Arne, Sabelis Maurice W
IBED, Population Biology, University of Amsterdam, P.O. Box 94084, 1090 GB Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Oecologia. 2003 Aug;136(3):484-8. doi: 10.1007/s00442-003-1289-1. Epub 2003 Jun 7.
Evidence is accumulating that herbivorous arthropods do not simply select host plants based on their quality, but also on the predation risk associated with different host plants. It has been suggested that herbivores exclude plant species with high predation risk from their host range. This assumes a constant, predictable predation risk as well as a rather static behaviour on the part of the herbivore; plants are ignored irrespective of the actual predation risk. We show that adult females of a small herbivore, the whitefly Bemisia tabaci, can learn to avoid plants with predatory mites that attack only juvenile whiteflies, while they accept host plants of the same species without predators. Predatory mites disperse more slowly than whiteflies; they cannot fly and walk from plant to plant. Hence, by avoiding plants with predators, the whiteflies create a temporary refuge for their offspring. We suggest that the experience of arthropod herbivores with risks associated with host plants plays an important role in their host plant selection.
越来越多的证据表明，植食性节肢动物并非仅仅基于植物的质量来选择寄主植物，还会考虑与不同寄主植物相关的捕食风险。有人提出，食草动物会将捕食风险高的植物物种排除在其寄主范围之外。这假定了一种恒定、可预测的捕食风险，以及食草动物相当固定的行为模式；无论实际的捕食风险如何，植物都被忽视。我们发现，一种小型食草动物烟粉虱的成年雌虫能够学会避开带有仅攻击烟粉虱幼虫的捕食螨的植物，而它们会接受同种但没有捕食者的寄主植物。捕食螨的扩散速度比粉虱慢；它们不会飞，也不会从一株植物爬到另一株植物。因此，通过避开有捕食者的植物，粉虱为其后代创造了一个临时避难所。我们认为，节肢动物食草动物对与寄主植物相关风险的体验在它们的寄主植物选择中起着重要作用。
