Behmer Spencer T
Department of Entomology, Texas A&M University, College Station Texas, 77845-2475, USA.
Annu Rev Entomol. 2009;54:165-87. doi: 10.1146/annurev.ento.54.110807.090537.
The primary reason animals, including insect herbivores, eat is to acquire a mix of nutrients needed to fuel the processes of growth, development, and reproduction. Most insect herbivores strongly regulate their nutrient intake when given the opportunity. When they are restricted to imbalanced diets, they employ regulatory rules that govern the extent to which nutrients occurring in excess or deficit are eaten. Insect herbivores also regularly encounter allelochemicals as they eat, and recent work indicates the effect an allelochemical has on nutrient regulation, and insect herbivore performance, is modified depending on a food's nutrient composition. Comparative studies of nutrient regulation suggest coexisting generalist herbivores occupy unique nutritional feeding niches, and work with pathogens and parasitoids has revealed the manner in which top-down pressures influence patterns of nutrient intake. Insect herbivores regulate their nutrient intake using pre- and postingestive mechanisms, plus learning, and there is evidence that some of these mechanisms are shaped by natural selection.
包括食草昆虫在内的动物进食的主要原因是获取一系列营养物质，以支持生长、发育和繁殖过程。大多数食草昆虫在有机会时会严格控制营养摄入。当它们只能摄取不均衡的食物时，它们会运用调节规则来控制过量或不足营养物质的摄入量。食草昆虫在进食时也经常会接触到化感物质，最近的研究表明，化感物质对营养调节和食草昆虫表现的影响会因食物的营养成分而改变。营养调节的比较研究表明，共存的广食性食草动物占据独特的营养摄食生态位，与病原体和寄生蜂的研究揭示了自上而下的压力影响营养摄入模式的方式。食草昆虫通过摄食前和摄食后的机制以及学习来调节营养摄入，并且有证据表明其中一些机制是由自然选择塑造的。
