Dissertation Research: The Roles of Predation and Plant Chemistry in the Evolution of the Host Plant Specialization

捕食者可能在进化过程中扮演重要角色 食植性昆虫的饮食专门化。 这 研究将检验专家是 在化学和形态上更好地抵御 捕食比通才提供两个通才 和专业的鳞翅目幼虫 无脊椎动物捕食者，Apiomerus pictipes（刺客 在帕洛韦尔迪， 哥斯达黎加的国家公园。 要分别测试 猎物化学作为决定性因素的重要性 捕食者拒绝，我们也将提供卡特彼勒 提取物给同样的捕食者 结果指示 猎物化学反应是一个重要的威慑因素， 捕食者只能提供相对较弱的证据 植物化学也很重要。 因此 测试植物化学的重要性，我们还将 用人工饲料饲养专业毛毛虫 含有不同数量的寄主植物， 那些毛虫和它们的提取物给掠食者。 植食性昆虫的食性宽度是一个重要的 也是进化生物学和生态学的热点问题 包括草食性昆虫 成为严重的农业害虫。 该项目是 第一次测试植物的综合重要性 化学和捕食在决定饮食宽度。

Predators may play an important role in the evolution of diet specialization in phytophagous insects. This research will test the hypothesis that specialists are chemically and morphologically better defended against predation than generalists by offering both generalist and specialist lepidopteran larvae to two different invertebrate predators, Apiomerus pictipes (assassin bug) and Polistes carnifex (paper wasp) at Palo Verde National Park, Costa Rica. To test separately for the importance of prey chemistry as a determinant of predator rejections, we will also offer caterpillar extracts to the same predators. Results indicating that prey chemistry is an important deterrent to predators would only provide relatively weak evidence that plant chemistry is also important. Therefore, to test the importance of plant chemistry we will also rear specialist caterpillars on artificial diets containing varying amounts of host plant and offer those caterpillars and their extracts to the predators. Diet breadth of phytophagous insects is an important and current issue to evolutionary biology and ecology, including the potential for herbivorous insects to become serious agricultural pests. This project is the first to test the combined importance of plant chemistry and predation in determining diet breadth.