Date Priya, Crowley-Gall Amber, Diefendorf Aaron F, Rollmann Stephanie M
Department of Biological Sciences University of Cincinnati Cincinnati OH USA.
Present address: Department of Pediatrics Yale University School of Medicine New Haven CT 06520 USA.
Ecol Evol. 2017 Apr 18;7(11):3815-3825. doi: 10.1002/ece3.2993. eCollection 2017 Jun.
Divergent selection between environments can result in changes to the behavior of an organism. In many insects, volatile compounds are a primary means by which host plants are recognized and shifts in plant availability can result in changes to host preference. Both the plant substrate and microorganisms can influence this behavior, and host plant choice can have an impact on the performance of the organism. In four geographically isolated populations each use different cacti as feeding and oviposition substrates and identify those cacti by the composition of the volatile odorants emitted. Behavioral tests revealed populations vary in their degree of preference for their natural host plant. Females from the Mojave population show a marked preference for their host plant, barrel cactus, relative to other cactus choices. When flies were given a choice between cacti that were not their host plant, the preference for barrel and organ pipe cactus relative to agria and prickly pear cactus was overall lower for all populations. Volatile headspace composition is influenced by the cactus substrate, microbial community, and substrate-by-microorganism interactions. Differences in viability, developmental time, thorax length, and dry body weight exist among populations and depend on cactus substrate and population-by-cactus interactions. However, no clear association between behavioral preference and performance was observed. This study highlights a complex interplay between the insect, host plant, and microbial community and the factors mediating insect host plant preference behavior.
不同环境之间的差异选择会导致生物体行为的变化。在许多昆虫中，挥发性化合物是识别寄主植物的主要方式，而植物可利用性的变化会导致寄主偏好的改变。植物基质和微生物都会影响这种行为，寄主植物的选择会对生物体的表现产生影响。在四个地理隔离的种群中，每个种群都使用不同的仙人掌作为取食和产卵基质，并通过所释放挥发性气味物质的组成来识别这些仙人掌。行为测试表明，不同种群对其自然寄主植物的偏好程度有所不同。莫哈韦种群的雌性相对于其他仙人掌选择，对其寄主植物桶状仙人掌表现出明显的偏好。当给果蝇提供非其寄主植物的仙人掌供其选择时，所有种群对桶状仙人掌和管风琴仙人掌相对于阿格里亚仙人掌和仙人球仙人掌的偏好总体较低。挥发性顶空成分受仙人掌基质、微生物群落以及基质与微生物相互作用的影响。不同种群在活力、发育时间、胸长和干体重方面存在差异，这取决于仙人掌基质以及种群与仙人掌之间的相互作用。然而，未观察到行为偏好与表现之间存在明显关联。这项研究凸显了昆虫、寄主植物和微生物群落之间复杂的相互作用以及介导昆虫寄主植物偏好行为的因素。
