Journal ArticleDOI
The feeding behavior of the weevil, Exophthalmus jekelianus, with respect to the nutrients and allelochemicals in host plant leaves
TLDR
The model is shown to provide an effective framework for understanding the complex interactions among the chemical constituents of plants in a living host plant and predicts the phagostimulatory power of foods in the context of the regulation of multiple nutrients.Abstract:
The aim of this study was to relate nutritional and allelochemical variables in a living host plant to the feeding behavior of herbivorous insects in a field setting. We chose to study the foraging behavior of individual folivorous weevils (Exophthalmus jekelianus) while they were feeding on Central American mahogany (Cedrela odorata) in plantation in Costa Rica. All leaves contacted by the weevils during each observation were subjected to chemical analysis, and the weevils’ choice of leaves and their meal durations on those leaves were examined with respect to leaf chemical composition. Leaves that contained limonoids (allelochemicals present in the leaves) had fewer meals taken on them than did leaves without limonoids. Regression analysis and factor analysis were employed to investigate associations between leaf chemistry and meal duration. Univariate regressions indicated significant associations between meal duration and sucrose concentration, and between meal duration and nitrogen concentration. Factor analysis indicated that soluble sugars, nitrogen and limonoids were important variables that accounted for variation in meal duration. Sucrose and nitrogen concentrations were incorporated into a mathematical model that predicts the phagostimulatory power of foods in the context of the regulation of multiple nutrients. The model is shown to provide an effective framework for understanding the complex interactions among the chemical constituents of plants inread more
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
Insect herbivore nutrient regulation.
TL;DR: Comparative studies of nutrient regulation suggest coexisting generalist herbivores occupy unique nutritional feeding niches, and work with pathogens and parasitoids has revealed the manner in which top-down pressures influence patterns of nutrient intake.
Journal ArticleDOI
Too much of a good thing: on stoichiometrically balanced diets and maximal growth.
Maarten Boersma,James J. Elser +1 more
TL;DR: It is suggested that animals most vulnerable to effects of high food nutrient content are those that normally feed on low- quality (low-nutrient: C) food, and have a relatively low body nutrient content themselves, such as herbivores and detritivores.
Journal ArticleDOI
Growth rates of black soldier fly larvae fed on fresh human faeces and their implication for improving sanitation.
TL;DR: To determine the capacity of black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) to convert fresh human faeces into larval biomass under different feeding regimes, and to determine how effective BSFL are as a means ofhuman faecal waste management.
Journal ArticleDOI
Lifetime consequences of food protein-carbohydrate content for an insect herbivore
TL;DR: The findings show, for the first time, the effect of food p/c content over an insect herbivore’s entire life, and indicate that there is a narrow range of p/ c ratios that maximize lifetime performance, and for H. virescens, this range coincides with its self-selected p/C ratio.
Journal ArticleDOI
Educated predators make strategic decisions to eat defended prey according to their toxin content
TL;DR: Testing whether predators could learn to use color signals to make strategic decisions about when to include prey that varied in their toxin content in their diets found that birds made state-dependent decisions based upon their knowledge of the amount of toxin prey contained and their current energetic need.
References
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Book ChapterDOI
The Hungry Locust
TL;DR: A research program on feeding and nutrition that has used the locust as its principal subject determined that locusts regulate their intake of protein, carbohydrate, salt, and water to include nutrient-specific modulation of taste receptor responsiveness and learning.
Journal ArticleDOI
Tannic acid, protein, and digestible carbohydrate: dietary imbalance and nutritional compensation in locusts'
TL;DR: A statistical interaction between protein levels and tannic acid demonstrated that tannanic acid reduced consumption, but only of the low protein diets, and a consequence of this was reduced growth in insects fed low-protein diets containing tANNic acid.
Journal ArticleDOI
Dietary mixing in three generalist herbivores: nutrient complementation or toxin dilution?
TL;DR: It is argued that there is no easy way to distinguish between the two hypotheses on the basis of consumption and performance measurements, as has previously been proposed, and where in the sequence from ingestion to growth single diets caused differences from mixed diets.
Journal ArticleDOI
Multiplicity of biochemical factors determining quality of growing birch leaves
Antti Kause,Vladimir Ossipov,Erkki Haukioja,Kyösti Lempa,Sinikka Hanhimäki,Svetlana Ossipova +5 more
TL;DR: The observed change in the factors underlying leaf quality relate to the activity of the shikimate pathway and the formation of cell walls: gallotannins and proanthocyanidins are both produced in the pathway, and these tannins are assumed to contribute – via binding into cell walls – to tough and durable cell walls.
Journal ArticleDOI
Genetic variation in Costa Rican populations of the tropical timber species Cedrela odorata L., assessed using RAPDs
A. C. M. Gillies,Jonathan P. Cornelius,Adrian C. Newton,Carlos Navarro,M. Hernández,Julia Wilson +5 more
TL;DR: Possible reasons for the high degree of intraspecific genetic variation within this species are discussed and the implications for the conservation and use of its genetic resources are described.