Floral feeding increases diet breadth in a polyphagous mirid

Herbivorous insect species vary significantly in the number of host plant taxa they attack. Previous studies suggested host range expansion to be more likely to occur in herbivores whose immatures feed on flowers due to flowers containing lower levels of plant defense compounds than vegetative tissu...

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Main Authors: Pan, Hongsheng, Tena, Alejandro, Xiu, Chunli, Liu, Bing, Lu, Yanhui, Desneux, Nicolas
Format: article
Language:Inglés
Published: Springer 2019
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11939/6252
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10340-019-01118-4
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author Pan, Hongsheng
Tena, Alejandro
Xiu, Chunli
Liu, Bing
Lu, Yanhui
Desneux, Nicolas
author_browse Desneux, Nicolas
Liu, Bing
Lu, Yanhui
Pan, Hongsheng
Tena, Alejandro
Xiu, Chunli
author_facet Pan, Hongsheng
Tena, Alejandro
Xiu, Chunli
Liu, Bing
Lu, Yanhui
Desneux, Nicolas
author_sort Pan, Hongsheng
collection ReDivia
description Herbivorous insect species vary significantly in the number of host plant taxa they attack. Previous studies suggested host range expansion to be more likely to occur in herbivores whose immatures feed on flowers due to flowers containing lower levels of plant defense compounds than vegetative tissues. We tested whether the polyphagous mirid bug Apolygus lucorum, an important pest of cotton and fruit crops, could increase its diet breadth by feeding on flowers. In field plots, the density of A. lucorum nymphs was higher at the flowering stage than at the vegetative stage in the eight plant species included in this project during 2009–2016. In two laboratory studies, adults preferred to lay eggs on the plants at flowering stage over those at vegetative stage and immatures failed to develop on the vegetative tissues of five of the eight species. Flowers of the same plant species, however, sustained successful development of the mirid nymphs. Therefore, we compared the levels of secondary compounds and main nutrients in flowers and vegetative tissue of the eight plant species. Six out of the eight plants tested contained lower levels of secondary metabolites in flowers than in vegetative tissue, and all contained more sugars in flowers than in vegetative tissue. In a manipulative assay, A. lucorum nymph survival increased when fed on vegetative tissues with sucrose. Hence, a higher sugar content of flowers, not just a lower content of plant defense compounds, allows A. lucorum to adapt its diet to a wider variety of plant species.
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institution Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Agrarias (IVIA)
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spelling ReDivia62522025-04-25T14:46:40Z Floral feeding increases diet breadth in a polyphagous mirid Pan, Hongsheng Tena, Alejandro Xiu, Chunli Liu, Bing Lu, Yanhui Desneux, Nicolas Host plant selection Nutritional ecology Preference–performance relationship Apolygus lucorum Carbohydrates Secondary compounds H10 Pests of plants Herbivorous insect species vary significantly in the number of host plant taxa they attack. Previous studies suggested host range expansion to be more likely to occur in herbivores whose immatures feed on flowers due to flowers containing lower levels of plant defense compounds than vegetative tissues. We tested whether the polyphagous mirid bug Apolygus lucorum, an important pest of cotton and fruit crops, could increase its diet breadth by feeding on flowers. In field plots, the density of A. lucorum nymphs was higher at the flowering stage than at the vegetative stage in the eight plant species included in this project during 2009–2016. In two laboratory studies, adults preferred to lay eggs on the plants at flowering stage over those at vegetative stage and immatures failed to develop on the vegetative tissues of five of the eight species. Flowers of the same plant species, however, sustained successful development of the mirid nymphs. Therefore, we compared the levels of secondary compounds and main nutrients in flowers and vegetative tissue of the eight plant species. Six out of the eight plants tested contained lower levels of secondary metabolites in flowers than in vegetative tissue, and all contained more sugars in flowers than in vegetative tissue. In a manipulative assay, A. lucorum nymph survival increased when fed on vegetative tissues with sucrose. Hence, a higher sugar content of flowers, not just a lower content of plant defense compounds, allows A. lucorum to adapt its diet to a wider variety of plant species. 2019-05-28T12:21:51Z 2019-05-28T12:21:51Z 2019 article acceptedVersion Pan, H., Tena, A., Xiu, C., Liu, B., Lu, Y., & Desneux, N. (2019). Floral feeding increases diet breadth in a polyphagous mirid. Journal of Pest Science, 92(3), 1089-1100. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11939/6252 10.1007/s10340-019-01118-4 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10340-019-01118-4 en Springer electronico
spellingShingle Host plant selection
Nutritional ecology
Preference–performance relationship
Apolygus lucorum
Carbohydrates
Secondary compounds
H10 Pests of plants
Pan, Hongsheng
Tena, Alejandro
Xiu, Chunli
Liu, Bing
Lu, Yanhui
Desneux, Nicolas
Floral feeding increases diet breadth in a polyphagous mirid
title Floral feeding increases diet breadth in a polyphagous mirid
title_full Floral feeding increases diet breadth in a polyphagous mirid
title_fullStr Floral feeding increases diet breadth in a polyphagous mirid
title_full_unstemmed Floral feeding increases diet breadth in a polyphagous mirid
title_short Floral feeding increases diet breadth in a polyphagous mirid
title_sort floral feeding increases diet breadth in a polyphagous mirid
topic Host plant selection
Nutritional ecology
Preference–performance relationship
Apolygus lucorum
Carbohydrates
Secondary compounds
H10 Pests of plants
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11939/6252
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10340-019-01118-4
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