Department of Entomology, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, 07745, Jena, Germany.
Oecologia. 2012 Feb;168(2):459-69. doi: 10.1007/s00442-011-2103-0. Epub 2011 Aug 24.
Much attention has been paid to the question of the relative importance of female behaviour versus larval feeding capacities in determining the host range of herbivorous insects. Host-use trade-offs displayed by generalist and specialist sister species of the genus Helicoverpa were evaluated to examine the relationship between maternal choice and offspring performance. The prediction of optimal oviposition theory, that females will choose to lay eggs on plants on which their offspring perform best as larvae, was tested by measuring oviposition preference and larval performance of Helicoverpa armigera and H. assulta on tobacco, sunflower, and hot pepper. These two measures were more highly correlated in the specialist H. assulta. Both species exhibited the same oviposition preference ranking: tobacco > sunflower > hot pepper. H. armigera larvae preferred sunflower, followed by tobacco and hot pepper; while H. assulta larvae preferred tobacco to sunflower and hot pepper, consistent with their mothers' oviposition preference. Duration of the total period from egg to adult emergence for each species was significantly shorter on the host plant preferred by the larvae. H. assulta had shorter larval duration and higher relative growth rate than H. armigera on tobacco and hot pepper, and vice versa for sunflower, indicating species differences in host utilization. Thus, while only the specialist H. assulta displayed the predicted optimal oviposition pattern, females of both species show the least preference for the plant on which their offspring perform worst. Selection for optimal oviposition may be stronger on the specialist, which has fewer choices and lower lifetime fecundity than the generalist.
人们已经关注了一个问题，即雌性行为与幼虫取食能力在确定植食性昆虫的寄主范围方面的相对重要性。评估了通用型和专化型棉铃虫属姐妹种之间的寄主利用权衡，以检验母体选择和后代表现之间的关系。产卵最优选择理论预测，雌性将选择在其后代幼虫表现最佳的植物上产卵，通过测量棉铃虫和烟实夜蛾在烟草、向日葵和辣椒上的产卵偏好和幼虫表现来检验这一理论。在专化型的烟实夜蛾中，这两个措施的相关性更高。这两个物种都表现出相同的产卵偏好顺序：烟草＞向日葵＞辣椒。棉铃虫幼虫更喜欢向日葵，其次是烟草和辣椒；而烟实夜蛾幼虫更喜欢烟草而不是向日葵和辣椒，这与它们母亲的产卵偏好一致。每个物种从卵到成虫出现的总周期持续时间在幼虫喜欢的寄主植物上显著缩短。烟实夜蛾和棉铃虫在烟草和辣椒上的幼虫持续时间较短，相对生长率较高，而在向日葵上则相反，表明它们在寄主利用上存在种间差异。因此，虽然只有专化型的烟实夜蛾表现出预测的最优产卵模式，但两种物种的雌性对其后代表现最差的植物的偏好最小。最优产卵的选择可能对专化型更强，因为专化型的选择余地较少，终生繁殖力较低。
