Abstract
Fecundity of a native herbivore on its native and exotic host plants and relationship to plant chemistry
Highlights
Specialist herbivores are adapted to the defenses of their host plants
A maximum of 20 eggs was laid by one female and up to 12 eggs were laid on one meristem
Unlike previous studies that demonstrated E. lecontei development rate and survival on hybrid watermilfoil was intermediate or better than performance on the parental plants (Roley and Newman 2006; Borrowman et al 2015), we found that oviposition rates did not differ for weevils reared on or exposed to Eurasian or hybrid watermilfoils
Summary
Specialist herbivores are adapted to the defenses of their host plants. Behavioral and physiological adjustments employed by specialists may facilitate acceptance of chemically similar novel host plants, including nonindigenous invasive species (Keane and Crawley 2002; Craig and Itami 2008). These new associations may lead to a host range expansion or even a host-switch (Singer et al 1993; GarcíaRobledo and Horvitz 2012). Nonindigenous host plants would still contain defenses against its co-evolved herbivores. The success of an herbivore on native and nonindigenous host plants is mediated by the relative quality of these plants in a given region (Behmer 2009)
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