Physiological Ecology of Herbivorous Lepidopteran Larvae

叶作为食草性昆虫幼虫的食物的价值取决于植物组织的营养价值和昆虫年的食物加工能力。越来越清楚的是，在确定叶的营养价值时最重要的特征是氮、水和毒素含量，以及可能的酸度。关于决定昆虫处理摄取的物质以对抗潜在有害的树叶特征的能力的因素，人们知之甚少。在极少数情况下，提供了令人信服的机械解释来解释为什么一种昆虫可以在一种特定的植物上生长，而另一种昆虫生长得很差。这项研究的目的是评估阻碍鳞翅目幼虫有效利用食物的各种叶片特征的重要性，识别使它们能够克服这些障碍的昆虫的生化特征，并评估这些适应的代谢成本。如果该项目实现其目标，结果和结论将有助于解释不同类型的植物物种(包括农作物和野生植物)对不同昆虫物种(包括害虫物种和非害虫物种)的相对易感性。这项工作还可能解释一些昆虫改变食物植物或适应新宿主的能力。因此，这项研究可能有助于澄清一些促进昆虫多样性进化的生化因素，并解释为什么一些昆虫成为害虫，而另一些则不是。

The value of foliage as a food for herbivorous insect larvae depends upon the nutritive value of the plant tissue and the food processing capabilities of the insect years it has become increasingly clear that the characteristics that are most important in determining nutritive value of foliage are nitrogen, water, and toxin content, and possible also acidity. Much less is known about the factors that determine an insect's capability to process ingested materials to counter the characteristics of foliage that are potentially harmful. In very few cases have convincing mechanistic explanations been provided to explain why one insect species can grow will on a particular plant while another grows very poorly. It is the purpose of this research to assess the importance of various foliage characteristics that prevent effective food utilization by lepidopteran larvae, to identify biochemical characteristics of the insects that allow them to overcome these barriers, and to assess the metabolic costs of these adaptations. If this project achieves its objectives, the results and conclusions will be useful in explaining the relative susceptibilities of different types of plant species (both crop plants and wild plants) to different insect species (both pest species and non-pest species). This work may also explain the ability of some insects to switch food plants or adapt to new hosts. Thus, this research may help to clarify some of the biochemical factors that have fostered the evolution of diversity among insects, and to explain why some insects become pests and others do not.