Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Plant stress and insect behavior: cottonwood, ozone and the feeding and oviposition preference of a beetle

  • Original Papers
  • Published:
Oecologia Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Summary

Adults and larvae of the beetle Plagiodera versicolora preferred to feed on and consumed more of cottonwood, Populus deltoides, plant material that had been previously exposed to an acute dose of ozone (0.20 ppm, 5 h), compared to controls in choice experiments. However, females preferred to oviposit on the unexposed controls. Results were consistent for 2 cottonwood clones over 3 years in disc, leaf and whole-plant choice tests. The differential feeding and oviposition response of this insect to stressed plants could have at least 3 unexpected consequences: 1. An immediate increase in damage to stressed trees, but a subsequent decrease in damage. 2. A subsequent increase in damage to unstressed adjacent trees. 3. Changes in the insect and pathogen communities of both stressed and unstressed trees. These complex scenarios show that predicting outcomes of plant stress on plant-insect interactions will require comprchensive examination of behavioral, growth and reproductive responses of insects to stressed plants.

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

  • Alstad DN, Edmunds GF Jr, Weinstein LH (1982) Effects of air pollutants on insect populations. Annu Rev Entomol 27:369–384

    Google Scholar 

  • Barnes OL (1963) Food-plant tests with the differential grasshopper. J Econ Entomol 56:396–399

    Google Scholar 

  • Bernays EL, Lewis AC (1986) The effect of wilting on the palatability of plants to Schistocerca gregaria, the desert locust. Oecologia 70:132–135

    Google Scholar 

  • Coleman, JS (1986) Leaf development and leaf stress: Increased susceptibility associated with sink-source transition. Tree Physiol 2:289–299

    Google Scholar 

  • Coleman JS (1987) Relationship of ozone exposure and leaf ontogeny to susceptibility of eastern cottonwood to four pests. PhD Dissertation, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, pp 223

  • Coleman JS, Jones CG (1988a) Acute ozone stress on eastern cottonwood (Populus deltoides Bartr.) and the pest potential of the aphid, Chaitophorus populicola Thomas (Homoptera: Aphidae). Envir Entomol (in press)

  • Coleman JS, Jones CG (1988b) Plant stress and insect performance: Cottonwood, ozone and a leaf beetle. Oecologia 76:57–61

    Google Scholar 

  • Coleman JS, Jones CG, Smith WH (1987) Effects of ozone on cottonwood-leaf rust interactions: Independence of abiotic stress, genotype and leaf ontogeny. Can J Bot 65:949–953

    Google Scholar 

  • Coleman JS, Jones CG, Smith WH (1988) Interaction between an acute ozone dose, eastern cottonwood and Marssonina brunnea: Implications for pathogen community dynamics. Can J Bot (in press)

  • Conover WJ (1980) Practical non-parametric statistics. J Wiley, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Endress AG, Post SL (1985) Altered feeding preference of Mexican bean beetle, Epilachna varivestis, for ozonated soybean foliage. Env Poll Ser A 39:9–16

    Google Scholar 

  • Guderian R, Tingey DT, Rabe R (1985) Effects of photochemical oxidants on plants. In: Guderian R (ed) Air pollution by photochemical oxidants: Formation, transport, control and effects on plants. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, pp 129–335

    Google Scholar 

  • Hain FP (1987) Interactions of insects, trees and air pollution. Tree Physiol 3:93–102

    Google Scholar 

  • Heagle AS, Body DE, Heck WW (1973) An open-top field chamber to assess the impact of air pollution on plants. J Environ Qual 2:365–368

    Google Scholar 

  • Hughes PR, Potter JE, Weinstein LH (1982) Effects of air pollutants on plant-insect interactions: Reactions of the Mexican bean beetle to sulfur dioxide fumigated pinto beans. Envir Entomol 10:741–744

    Google Scholar 

  • Jeffords MR, Endress AG (1984) Possible role of ozone in tree defoliation by the gypsy moth (Lepidoptera:Lymantriidae). Envir Entomol 13:1249–1252

    Google Scholar 

  • Jones CG, Coleman JS (1988) Leaf disc size and insect preference: Implications for assays and induction studies. Entomol Exp Appl (in press)

  • Jones CG, Firn RD (1979) Resistance of Pteridium aquilinum to attack by non-adapted phytophagous insects. Biochem System Ecol 7:95–101

    Google Scholar 

  • Karnosky DF (1978) Testing air pollution tolerances of shade tree cultivars. J Arboriculture 4:107–110

    Google Scholar 

  • Larson PR, Isebrands JG (1971) The plastochron index as applied to developmental studies of cottonwood. Can J For Res 1:1–11

    Google Scholar 

  • Larsson S, Wiren A, Ericsson T, Lundgren L (1986) Effects of light and nutrient stress on leaf phenolic chemistry in Salix dasyclados and susceptibility to Galerucella lineola. Oikos 47:205–210

    Google Scholar 

  • Lewis AC (1979) Feeding preference for diseased and wilted sunflower in the grasshopper Melanoplus differentialis. Entomol Exp Appl 26:202–207

    Google Scholar 

  • Lewis AC (1982) Leaf wilting alters a plant species ranking by the grasshopper Melanoplus differentialis. Ecol Entomol 7:391–395

    Google Scholar 

  • Louda SM (1986) Insect herbivory in response to root cutting and flooding stress on a native crucifer under field conditions. Acta Oecologia 7:37–53

    Google Scholar 

  • Martineau R, Benoit P (1974) Principal forest insects in Quebec, Canada. Annals Soc Entomol Quebec 19:100–105

    Google Scholar 

  • Mattson WJ, Haack RA (1987) The role of drought in the outbreaks of plant eating insects. BioScience 37:110–118

    Google Scholar 

  • McLaughlin SB, Taylor GE Jr (1982) Relative humidity: important modifier of pollutant uptake by plants. Science 211:167–169

    Google Scholar 

  • Myers JH (1985) Effect of physiological condition of the host plant on the ovipositional choice of the cabbage white butterfly, Pieris rapae. J Anim Ecol 54:193–204

    Google Scholar 

  • Raupp MJ, Denno RF (1984) The suitability of damaged willow leaves as food for the leaf beetle, Plagiodera versicolora. Ecol Entomol 9:443–448

    Google Scholar 

  • Reich RB, Amundson RG (1985) Ambient levels of ozone reduce net photosynthesis in tree and crop species. Science 230:566–570

    Google Scholar 

  • Rhoades DF (1983) Herbivore population dynamics and plant chemistry. In: Denno RF, McClure MS (eds) Variable plants and herbivores in natural and managed systems. Academic Press, New York, pp 155–220

    Google Scholar 

  • Risch SJ (1985) Effects of induced chemical changes on interpretation of feeding preference tests. Entomol Exp Appl 39:81–84

    Google Scholar 

  • Steel RGD, Torrie JH (1960) Principles and procedures of statistics. McGraw-Hill Book Co, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • USEPA (1986) Air quality criteria for ozone and other photochemical oxidants. Research Triangle, North Carolina, Doc no EPA/ 600/8-84/020 cf

  • Wade MJ, Breden F (1986) Life history of natural populations of the imported willow leaf beetle, Plagiodera versicolora (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae). Annals Entomol Soc Am 79:73–79

    Google Scholar 

  • White TCR (1974) A hypothesis to explain outbreaks of looper caterpillars, with special reference to populations of Selidosema suavis in a plantation of Pinus radiata in New Zealand. Oecologia 16:279–301

    Google Scholar 

  • White TCR (1976) Weather, food and plagues of locusts. Oecologia 22:119–134

    Google Scholar 

  • White TCR (1984) The abundance of invertebrate herbivores in relation to the availability of nitrogen in stressed plants. Oecologia 63:90–105

    Google Scholar 

  • Wolfson JL (1980) Oviposition response of Pieris rapae to environmentally induced variation in Brassica nigra. Entomol Exp appl 27:223–232

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Author notes

  1. James S. Coleman

    Present address: Department of Biological Sciences, Stanford University, 94305, Stanford, CA, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The New York Botanical Garden, Mary Flagler Cary Arboretum, Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Box AB, 12545, Millbrook, NY, USA

    Clive G. Jones

  2. School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University, Greeley Memorial Laboratory, 370 Prospect Street, 06511, New Haven, CT, USA

    James S. Coleman

Authors
  1. Clive G. Jones
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. James S. Coleman
    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

Jones, C.G., Coleman, J.S. Plant stress and insect behavior: cottonwood, ozone and the feeding and oviposition preference of a beetle. Oecologia 76, 51–56 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00379599

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00379599

Key words

Search

Navigation