| Title: | Plant water limitation and its impact on the oviposition preferences of the monarch butterfly (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) |
| Author(s): | Diethelm AC; Kost KE; Pringle EG; |
| Address: | "Department of Biology, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, USA. Program in Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, USA" |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1536-2442 (Electronic) 1536-2442 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Intensifying drought conditions across the western United States due to global climate change are altering plant-insect interactions. Specialist herbivores must find their host plants within a matrix of nonhosts, and thus often rely upon specific plant secondary chemistry for host location and oviposition cues. Climate-induced alterations to plant chemistry could thus affect female selection of larval food plants. Here, we investigated whether host-plant water limitation influenced oviposition preference in a threatened invertebrate: the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus). We found that females deposited more eggs on reduced-water than on well-watered narrowleaf milkweed plants (Asclepias fascicularis), but we could not attribute this change to any specific change in plant chemistry. Specialist herbivores, such as the monarch butterfly, which are tightly linked to specific plant cues, may experience shift in preferences under global-change conditions. Understanding oviposition preferences will be important to directing ongoing habitat restoration activities for this declining insect" |
| Keywords: | Female Animals *Butterflies Oviposition Ovum Larva *Asclepias Asclepias fascicularis drought milkweed phytochemistry plant-insect interaction; |
| Notes: | "MedlineDiethelm, Aramee C Kost, Konnor E Pringle, Elizabeth G eng NSF Graduate Research Fellowship/ L20AC00440/University of Nevada, Reno, BLM grant/ 2145757/NSF DEB/ 2023/08/16 J Insect Sci. 2023 Jul 1; 23(4):20. doi: 10.1093/jisesa/iead075" |
