title: Relationships between sulfonylurea herbicide treatment of host plants and the performance of herbivorous insects.
abstract: Previous work had shown that the sulfonylurea herbicide chlorsulfuron affected the survival of a herbivorous insect species dwelling on a sub-lethally exposed host plant. Further experiments have been conducted to establish whether this negative effect was a single occurrence characteristics for the specific insect-plant interaction and the specific herbicide tested. Three insect-plant interactions were tested for the effects of selected sulfonylurea herbicides, i.e. metsulfuron-methyl, chlorsulfuron and tribenuron-methyl. The species pairs tested were Pieris brassicae/Brassica napus, Gastrophysa polygoni/Fallopia convolvulus and Sitobium avenae/Triticum aestivium. No significant effects on survival and relative growth rate of P brassicae or G polygoni were found when treating the host plants with sulfonylurea herbicides. However, the host plants had a significantly reduced root and shoot growth rate when treated with herbicide. Treating T aestivium with the recommended field rate of metasulfuron-methyl did not cause any change in development time, growth rate or fecundity of S avenae feeding on the host plants. The data presented suggest that the increased mortality observed for G polygoni larvae feeding on chlorsulfuron-treated host plants observed earlier was characteristic for this herbicide and for the specific plant-insect interaction only.
authors.affiliation: National Environmental Research Institute, Department of Terrestrial Ecology, PO Box 314, Vejlsøvej 25, DK-8600, Silkeborg, Denmark. ckj@dmu.dk
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kjaer
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Heimbach
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001042:Aphids / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D001190:Arylsulfonates / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001937:Brassica / Q000187:drug effects / Q000254:growth & development / Q000469:parasitology; D002080:Butterflies / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D001517:Coleoptera / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D006540:Herbicides / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006790:Host-Parasite Interactions / Q000187:drug effects; D007313:Insecta / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D063245:Plant Development; D018517:Plant Roots / Q000187:drug effects / Q000254:growth & development / Q000469:parasitology; D018520:Plant Shoots / Q000187:drug effects / Q000254:growth & development / Q000469:parasitology; D010944:Plants / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000469:parasitology; D019664:Polygonaceae / Q000187:drug effects / Q000254:growth & development / Q000469:parasitology; D013449:Sulfonamides; D018675:Toxicity Tests; D014227:Triazines / Q000494:pharmacology*; D014908:Triticum / Q000187:drug effects / Q000254:growth & development / Q000469:parasitology
chemical_list: D001190:Arylsulfonates; D006540:Herbicides; D013449:Sulfonamides; D014227:Triazines; C050296:metsulfuron methyl; C037137:chlorsulfuron