GROWTH OF HERBIVOROUS CATERPILLARS IN RELATION TO FEEDING SPECIALIZATION AND TO THE GROWTH FORM OF THEIR FOOD PLANTS
GROWTH OF HERBIVOROUS CATERPILLARS IN RELATION TO FEEDING SPECIALIZATION AND TO THE GROWTH FORM OF THEIR FOOD PLANTS
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DOI：
10.2307/1936618
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发表时间：
1979-01-01
期刊：
影响因子：
4.8
通讯作者：
FEENY, P
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
SCRIBER, JM;FEENY, P
9 种幼虫。燕尾蝶（凤蝶科），10 种。蚕蛾（Saturniidae 和 Bombycidae）和南方粘虫（Noctuidae：Spodoptera eridania）在标准化条件下在许多典型食用植物 [超过 40 种] 的成熟叶子上饲养。通过标准技术测量倒数第二龄和最后龄幼虫的生长率、摄食率和食物效率以及氮利用率。食用植物的幼虫生长形态与叶片含水量之间存在明确的关系。幼虫在草本植物上比在灌木和树木的叶子上生长得更快、更有效。这些差异大于所测试昆虫物种之间摄食专业化程度差异所能解释的差异。负责植物生长形态和幼虫生长之间关系的特定叶子特征尚不清楚，但它们可能包括叶子含水量、氮含量、韧性和纤维含量。对于敌人来说，树木可能比大多数草本植物更明显；研究结果与最近的建议一致，即对于食草动物来说，明显植物的成熟叶子通常比不明显植物的叶子更糟糕。成熟树叶的低食用价值在多大程度上实际上是食草动物选择性作用的结果尚不清楚。
Larvae of 9 spp. of swallowtail butterflies (Papilionidae), 10 spp. of bombycoid moths (Saturniidae and Bombycidae), and of the southern armyworm (Noctuidae: Spodoptera eridania) were reared under standardized conditions on mature leaves of many of their typical food plants [over 40 spp.]. Growth rates, feeding rates and efficiencies of food and N utilization of larvae in their penultimate and final instars were measured by standard techniques. A clear relationship was revealed between larval growth form of the food plants quantified as leaf water content. Larvae grew faster and more efficiently on herbaceous plants than on the foliage of shrubs and trees. These differences were greater than could be accounted for by variation in the degree of feeding specialization among the insect species tested. The particular leaf characteristics responsible for the relationship between plant growth form and larval growth are not known, but they probably include leaf water content, N content, toughness and fiber content. Trees are likely to be more apparent to enemies than are most herbaceous plants; the results are consistent with recent suggestions that the mature foliage of apparent plants is generally poorer food for herbivores than is the foliage of unapparent plants. The extent to which the low food value of mature tree leaves is actually a consequence of the selective action of herbivores is unknown.