title: The Many Dimensions of Diet Breadth: Phytochemical, Genetic, Behavioral, and Physiological Perspectives on the Interaction between a Native Herbivore and an Exotic Host.
abstract: From the perspective of an herbivorous insect, conspecific host plants are not identical, and intraspecific variation in host nutritional quality or defensive capacity might mediate spatially variable outcomes in plant-insect interactions. Here we explore this possibility in the context of an ongoing host breadth expansion of a native butterfly (the Melissa blue, Lycaeides melissa) onto an exotic host plant (alfalfa, Medicago sativa). We examine variation among seven alfalfa populations that differed in terms of colonization by L. melissa; specifically, we examined variation in phytochemistry, foliar protein, and plant population genetic structure, as well as responses of caterpillars and adult butterflies to foliage from the same populations. Regional patterns of alfalfa colonization by L. melissa were well predicted by phytochemical variation, and colonized patches of alfalfa showed a similar level of inter-individual phytochemical diversity. However, phytochemical variation was a poor predictor of larval performance, despite the fact that survival and weight gain differed dramatically among caterpillars reared on plants from different alfalfa populations. Moreover, we observed a mismatch between alfalfa supporting the best larval performance and alfalfa favored by ovipositing females. Thus, the axes of plant variation that mediate interactions with L. melissa depend upon herbivore life history stage, which raises important issues for our understanding of adaptation to novel resources by an organism with a complex life history.
authors.affiliation: Program in Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology, Department of Biology, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, 89557, United States of America.|Department of Biology, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, 89557, United States of America.
authors.forename: Joshua G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Harrison
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Utah State University, Logan, UT, 84322, United States of America.
authors.forename: Zachariah
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Gompert
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, 37996, United States of America.
authors.forename: James A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Fordyce
authors.affiliation: Department of Botany, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY, 82071, United States of America.
authors.forename: C Alex
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Buerkle
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, 89557, United States of America.
authors.forename: Rachel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Grinstead
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, 89557, United States of America.
authors.forename: Joshua P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Jahner
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, 89557, United States of America.
authors.forename: Scott
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mikel
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX, 78666, United States of America.
authors.forename: Christopher C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Nice
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, 89557, United States of America.
authors.forename: Aldrin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Santamaria
authors.affiliation: Program in Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology, Department of Biology, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, 89557, United States of America.|Department of Biology, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, 89557, United States of America.
authors.forename: Matthew L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Forister
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002080:Butterflies / Q000502:physiology*; D002140:California; D060434:Herbivory; D007814:Larva; D009505:Nevada; D010058:Oviposition; D064209:Phytochemicals; D010944:Plants
chemical_list: D064209:Phytochemicals
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