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Effects of Experience on Host-Plant Selection

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Book cover Chemical Ecology of Insects 2

Abstract

Anyone who has watched insects selecting their host plants in nature is aware of the variability of responses shown by the insects with respect to attraction, landing, acceptance, and oviposition or feeding. Some of this variation results from genetic differences among individuals, and some of it is due to variation among plants that we usually cannot detect (Singer and Parmesan, 1993). However, a third variable may be even more important, and that is the effect of past experience on the herbivore. The experiential effects may be short-term and readily reversible or they may be long-term and less readily reversed. In almost all cases, plant chemicals are involved, and the experiences can profoundly influence which of the various available host plants will be selected at any given time.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Entomology and Center for Insect Science, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA

    E. A. Bernays

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  1. E. A. Bernays
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© 1995 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Bernays, E.A. (1995). Effects of Experience on Host-Plant Selection. In: Chemical Ecology of Insects 2. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-1765-8_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-1765-8_2

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-412-03961-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4615-1765-8

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