title: Relationships between leaf age and the food quality of cottonwood foliage for the gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar.
abstract: The cottonwood tree, Populus deltoides, continues to produce leaves late into the growing season, exposing midseason herbivores to leaves of a wide range of maturity. Gypsy moth larvae preferred and grew best on the oldest cottonwood leaves and suffered higher mortality and 85% less growth when fed young, expanding leaves. Concentration of phenolics in the youngest leaves was 3 times that in the oldest leaves and was negatively correlated with caterpillar growth rate. The active phenolics were not identified; tannin was present but its concentration changed more with season than leaf age.
authors.affiliation: Center for Biological Control of Northeastern Forest Insects and Diseases, USDA Forest Service, 51 Mill Pond Road, 06514, Hamden, CT, USA.
authors.forename: G A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Meyer
authors.affiliation: Center for Biological Control of Northeastern Forest Insects and Diseases, USDA Forest Service, 51 Mill Pond Road, 06514, Hamden, CT, USA.
authors.forename: M E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Montgomery
keywords: Chemical defense; Herbivory; Lepidoptera; Resource allocation; Salicaceae