title: Integrating Insect Life History and Food Plant Phenology: Flexible Maternal Choice Is Adaptive.
abstract: Experience of insect herbivores and their natural enemies in the natal habitat is considered to affect their likelihood of accepting a similar habitat or plant/host during dispersal. Growing phenology of food plants and the number of generations in the insects further determines lability of insect behavioural responses at eclosion. We studied the effect of rearing history on oviposition preference in a multivoltine herbivore (Pieris brassicae), and foraging behaviour in the endoparasitoid wasp (Cotesia glomerata) a specialist enemy of P. brassicae. Different generations of the insects are obligatorily associated with different plants in the Brassicaceae, e.g., Brassica rapa, Brassica nigra and Sinapis arvensis, exhibiting different seasonal phenologies in The Netherlands. Food plant preference of adults was examined when the insects had been reared on each of the three plant species for one generation. Rearing history only marginally affected oviposition preference of P. brassicae butterflies, but they never preferred the plant on which they had been reared. C. glomerata had a clear preference for host-infested B. rapa plants, irrespective of rearing history. Higher levels of the glucosinolate breakdown product 3-butenyl isothiocyanate in the headspace of B. rapa plants could explain enhanced attractiveness. Our results reveal the potential importance of flexible plant choice for female multivoltine insects in nature.
authors.affiliation: Department of Terrestrial Ecology, Netherlands Institute of Ecology, Droevendaalsesteeg 10, 6708 PB Wageningen, The Netherlands. m.fei@nioo.knaw.nl.
authors.forename: Minghui
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fei
authors.affiliation: Department of Terrestrial Ecology, Netherlands Institute of Ecology, Droevendaalsesteeg 10, 6708 PB Wageningen, The Netherlands. j.harvey@nioo.knaw.nl.|Section Animal Ecology, Department of Ecological Sciences, VU University Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1085, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands. j.harvey@nioo.knaw.nl.
authors.forename: Jeffrey A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Harvey
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Entomology, Wageningen University, Droevendaalsesteeg 1, 6708 PB Wageningen, The Netherlands. weldegergis@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Berhane T
authors.initials: BT
authors.lastname: Weldegergis
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Entomology, Wageningen University, Droevendaalsesteeg 1, 6708 PB Wageningen, The Netherlands. tzeyipastry@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Tzeyi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Entomology, Wageningen University, Droevendaalsesteeg 1, 6708 PB Wageningen, The Netherlands. kimmy.reijngoudt@wur.nl.
authors.forename: Kimmy
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Reijngoudt
authors.affiliation: Department of Terrestrial Ecology, Netherlands Institute of Ecology, Droevendaalsesteeg 10, 6708 PB Wageningen, The Netherlands. l.vet@nioo.knaw.nl.|Laboratory of Entomology, Wageningen University, Droevendaalsesteeg 1, 6708 PB Wageningen, The Netherlands. l.vet@nioo.knaw.nl.
authors.forename: Louise M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Vet
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Entomology, Wageningen University, Droevendaalsesteeg 1, 6708 PB Wageningen, The Netherlands. rieta.gols@wur.nl.
authors.forename: Rieta
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gols
mesh_terms: D063147:Animal Distribution; D000818:Animals; D029741:Brassica rapa / Q000378:metabolism*; D002080:Butterflies / Q000469:parasitology / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005426:Flight, Animal; D005518:Food Preferences; D060434:Herbivory; D006790:Host-Parasite Interactions; D008297:Male; D009149:Mustard Plant / Q000378:metabolism*; D010058:Oviposition; D014863:Wasps / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: endoparasitoid; foraging; glucosinolate; herbivore; herbivore induced plant volatile (HIPV); multivoltine; oviposition; plant volatiles; rearing history