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Insights into herbivore distribution and abundance: oviposition preferences of western hemlock and phantom hemlock loopers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 January 2012

Martin J. Steinbauer
Affiliation:
Cooperative Research Centre for Sustainable Production Forestry, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization Entomology, Canberra, and Department of Zoology, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria 3086, Australia
Allan L. Carroll*
Affiliation:
Cooperative Research Centre for Sustainable Production Forestry, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization Entomology, Canberra, and Department of Zoology, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria 3086, Australia
*
3Corresponding author (e-mail: Allan.Carroll@ubc.ca).

Abstract

Knowledge of the factors affecting host selection by herbivorous insects is essential to predictions of their distribution and abundance over landscapes. In the laboratory, we studied the oviposition preferences of two eruptive loopers (Lepidoptera: Geometridae) native to western Canada (western hemlock looper, Lambdina fiscellaria lugubrosa (Hulst), and phantom hemlock looper, Nepytia phantasmaria (Strecker)) for different species and condition of hosts. When offered a choice, phantom hemlock loopers laid nearly three times as many eggs on western hemlock, Tsuga heterophylla (Raf.) Sarg. (Pinaceae) as on either western redcedar, Thuja plicata Donn ex D. Don (Cupressaceae) or western white pine, Pinus monticola Douglas ex D. Don (Pinaceae). Western hemlock loopers were less specific, laying equal numbers of eggs on western hemlock and western redcedar, though fewer eggs were deposited on western white pine when compared with western hemlock. When offered western hemlock trees grown under different nutrient and shading regimes, phantom hemlock loopers preferred to oviposit on high nutrient hosts, irrespective of shading; western hemlock loopers exhibited a preference for high-nutrient hosts only if they were grown without shading. These patterns of host preference can be combined with information regarding forest composition to help quantify the conditional probability of western and phantom hemlock looper distibution and abundance.

Résumé

Il est essentiel de connaître les facteurs qui affectent la sélection d'hôtes par les insectes herbivores afin de prédire leur répartition et leur abondance dans les paysages. Nous avons étudié au laboratoire les préférences de sites de ponte chez deux arpenteuses épidémiques (Lepidoptera : Geometridae) indigènes de l'Ouest canadien (l'arpenteuse de la pruche de l'Ouest, Lambdina fiscellaria lugubrosa (Hulst), et l'arpenteuse verte de la pruche, Nepytia phantasmaria (Strecker)) sur différentes espèces et conditions d'hôtes. En présence d'un choix, les arpenteuses vertes de la pruche pondent presque trois fois plus d'œufs sur la pruche de l'Ouest, Tsuga heterophylla (Raf.) Sarg. (Pinaceae) que sur le thuya géant, Thuya plicata Donn ex D. Don (Cupressaceae) et le pin argenté, Pinus monticola Douglas ex D. Don (Pinaceae). Les arpenteuses de la pruche de l'Ouest sont moins spécifiques et pondent des nombres égaux d'œufs sur la pruche de l'Ouest et le thuya géant, bien qu'elle pondent moins d'œufs sur le pin argenté que sur la pruche de l'Ouest. Lorsqu'on leur présente des pruches de l'Ouest qui ont crû sous divers régimes de nutriments et d'ombre, les arpenteuses vertes de la pruche préfèrent pondre sur des arbres élevés dans un régime riche en nutriments, sans égard aux conditions d'ombre; les arpenteuses de la pruche de l'Ouest montrent une préférence pour les hôtes de régime riche en nutriments seulement si ceux-ci ont été élevés sans ombrage. On peut combiner ces patrons de préférence d'hôtes à des données sur la composition forestière pour aider à calculer la probabilité conditionnelle de la répartition et de l'abondances des arpenteuses de la pruche de l'ouest et des arpenteuses vertes de la pruche.

[Traduit par la Rédaction]

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Entomological Society of Canada 2011

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