Effects of Host Plant Water-Stress on Herbivorous Insects in Three Feeding Guilds

“水分胁迫”提高了食草昆虫植物的营养质量并导致疫情爆发的理论得到了很多支持。 尽管研究报告称，以缺水植物为食的昆虫的性能有所提高，但其他研究表明，昆虫要么避开缺水植物，要么在缺水植物上生长不良。 看来，直翅目昆虫和液食昆虫往往会从植物水分胁迫中受益，但嚼叶昆虫和骨骼昆虫则不然。 P.I.将检验以下假设：植物水分胁迫对草食性昆虫的影响取决于昆虫的摄食方式。 他将进行偏好和受控饲养实验，检查寄主植物中的水分胁迫对分布在三个摄食行会和四个昆虫目中的十种昆虫的取食和产卵偏好、生长、生存和繁殖力的影响。 由于大豆在水分胁迫下的生理和生物化学是众所周知的，因此将用大豆作为实验对象。 这些实验将增强我们对大豆与其几种害虫相互作用的了解，并有助于确定植物水分胁迫对昆虫食草动物的影响（取决于昆虫的摄食模式）。 这些信息将有助于解释昆虫对缺水植物的复杂反应。

The theory that "water-stress" improves the nutritional quality of plants for insect herbivores and leads to outbreaks has received much support. Although studies report improved performances for insects fed water-stressed foliage others have shown that insects either avoid or grow poorly on water-stressed plant. It appears that Orthoptera and sapfeeding insects tend to benefit from plant water-stress, but leaf chewers and skeletonizers do not. The P.I. Will test the hypothesis and that the effect of water-stress in plants on herbivorous insects depends on the feeding mode of the insect. He will perform preferences and controlled rearing experiments examine the effects of water- stress in the host plant on feeding and oviposition preference, growth, survival, and fecundity in ten insect species distributed among three feeding guilds and four insect orders. Soybeans will be the experiments since the physiology and biochemistry of soybean under water-stress is well known. These experiments will enhance our knowledge of the interactions of soybean with several of its insect pests, and allow the identification of the effects of water-stress in plants on insects herbivores depends on insect feeding mode. This information will help explain the complex responses of insects to water-stressed plants.