Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Host plant predictability and the feeding patterns of monophagous, oligophagous, and polyphagous insect herbivores

  • Published:
Oecologia Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Summary

Host plant preferences for 34 insect herbivore species are reported. Most polyphagous herbivores feeding on annuals, herbaceous perennials, and woody perennials show distinct preferences for the least abundant plant species among their various host plants. In addition, some populations of widely distributed polyphagous species are much more specialized in their diet than host plant lists alone would suggest. The high level of polyphagy on annuals and herbaceous perennials is suggested to be strongly influenced by the unpredictability of the host plant that is, in turn, controlled by environmental variability. Oligophagous herbivores preferred the least abundant woody perennials on the study sites. Ten of the 22 monophagous herbivores preferred the rarest of all the plant species on the same sites.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Banfill J, Brusven M (1973) Food habits and ecology of grasshoppers in the Devils Mountains and Salmon River Breaks of Idaho. Melanderia 12:1–18

    Google Scholar 

  • Beatley J (1976) Rainfall and fluctuating plant populations in relation to distributions and numbers of desert rodents in Southern Nevada. Oecologia (Berl) 24:21–42

    Google Scholar 

  • Bland R (1976) Effect of parasites and food plants on the stability of a population of Melanoplus femurrubrum. Envir Ent 5:724–728

    Google Scholar 

  • Cates RG (1980) Feeding patterns of monophagous, oligophagous, and polyphagous insect herbivores: The effect of resource abundance and plant chemistry. Oecologia (Berl) 46:22–31

    Google Scholar 

  • Cates RG, Alexander H (1981) Host resistance and susceptibility. In: Bark Beetles in North American Conifers: Ecology and Evolution J Mitton and K Sturgeon (eds), University of Texas Press, Austin, Texas: in press

    Google Scholar 

  • Cates RG, Rhoades D (1977a) Patterns in the production of antiherbivore chemical defenses in plant communities. Biochem Syst Ecol 5:185–193

    Google Scholar 

  • Cates RG, Rhoades D (1977b) Prosopis leaves as a resource for insects. In: B Simpson (ed), Mesquite: Its biology in two desert scrub ecosystems. US/IBP Synthesis Series 4, Dowden, Hutchingson and Ross, Inc, Stroudsburg, Penn.: p 61–83

    Google Scholar 

  • Feeny P (1976) Plant apparency and chemical defense. In: J Wallace and R Mansell (eds), Biochemical interaction between plants and insects, Rec Adv Phytochem 10:1–40, Plenum Press, New York-London

    Google Scholar 

  • Futuyma D, Gould F (1979) Associations of plants and insects in a deciduous forest. Ecol Monogr 49:33–50

    Google Scholar 

  • Gangwere S (1965) Food selection in the Oedipodine Grasshopper Arphia sulphurea (Babricius). Amer Midl Natur 74:67–75

    Google Scholar 

  • Joern A (1979) Feeding patterns in grasshoppers (Orthoptera: Acrididae): Factors influencing diet specialization. Oecologia (Berl) 38:325–347

    Google Scholar 

  • Lawton J, McNeil S (1979) Between the devil and the deep blue sea: On the problem of being an herbivore. In: R Anderson, L Taylor, B Turner (eds), Population dynamics, Blackwell Scientific, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Mitchell J (1975) Variation in food preferences of three grasshopper species (Acrididae: Orthoptera) as a function of food availability. Amer Midl Natur 94:267–283

    Google Scholar 

  • Rathcke B (1976) Insect-plant patterns and relationships in the stemboring guild. Amer Midl Natur 96:98–117

    Google Scholar 

  • Rhoades D, Cates RG (1976) Toward a general theory of plant antiherbivore chemistry. In: Biochemical interactions between plants and insects (J Wallace, R Mansell, eds). Rec Adv Phytochem 10:168–213. Plenum Press, New York-London

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosenthal G, Janzen D (1979) Herbivores: Their interaction with secondary plant metabolites. Academic Press, New York-London

    Google Scholar 

  • Scriber J, Feeny P (1979) Growth of herbivorous caterpillars in relation to feeding specialization and to the growth form of their food plants. Ecology 60:829–850

    Google Scholar 

  • Shreve F (1951) Vegetation of the Sonoran Desert. Volume 1. Washington, DC. Carnegie Institution of Washington Publication 591

  • Ueckert D, Hansen R (1971) Dietary overlap of grasshoppers on sandhill rangeland in Northeastern Colorado. Oecologia (Berl) 8:276–295

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, The University of New Mexico, 87131, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

    Rex G. Cates

Authors
  1. Rex G. Cates
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Cates, R.G. Host plant predictability and the feeding patterns of monophagous, oligophagous, and polyphagous insect herbivores. Oecologia 48, 319–326 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00346488

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00346488

Keywords

Search

Navigation