Stephan, Jörg and Stenberg, Johan A. and Björkman, Christer
(2015).
How far away is the next basket of eggs? Spatial memory and perceived cues shape aggregation patterns in a leaf beetle.
Ecology. 96
:4
, 908-914
[Journal article]
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PDF
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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/14-1143.1.sm
Abstract
Gregarious organisms need to handle the trade-off between increasing food competition and the positive effects of group living, and this is particularly important for ovipositing females. We hypothesized that insect females consider how many conspecifics previously visited a host plant. In a no-choice assay, we show that the gregarious blue willow leaf beetle (Phratora vulgatissima) laid the most eggs and the largest clutches on plants where a sequence of few individual females was released, compared to plants where one or many different females were repeatedly released. Therefore, this species is more sensitive to the indirectly perceived number of conspecifics than the directly perceived number of eggs on a plant. We further hypothesized that females adjust their own intra-plant egg clutch distribution to that of conspecifics and discovered a new behavioral component, i.e., the modulation of distances between clutches. Females adjusted these distances in ways indicating the use of spatial memory, because the largest distance increases were observed on plants with their own clutches, compared to plants with clutches from conspecifics. However, adjustment of aggregation level and distance between clutches occurred only on a suitable, and not on an unsuitable, Salix genotype. We conclude that both behaviors should reduce competition between sibling and non-sibling larvae.
Authors/Creators: | Stephan, Jörg and Stenberg, Johan A. and Björkman, Christer | ||||
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Title: | How far away is the next basket of eggs? Spatial memory and perceived cues shape aggregation patterns in a leaf beetle | ||||
Series/Journal: | Ecology (0012-9658) | ||||
Year of publishing : | 2015 | ||||
Volume: | 96 | ||||
Number: | 4 | ||||
Page range: | 908-914 | ||||
Number of Pages: | 7 | ||||
Publisher: | Ecological Society of America | ||||
ISSN: | 0012-9658 | ||||
Language: | English | ||||
Publication Type: | Journal article | ||||
Refereed: | Yes | ||||
Article category: | Scientific peer reviewed | ||||
Version: | Published version | ||||
Full Text Status: | Public | ||||
Agris subject categories.: | X Agricola extesions > X30 Life sciences | ||||
Subjects: | (A) Swedish standard research categories 2011 > 1 Natural sciences > 106 Biological Sciences (Medical to be 3 and Agricultural to be 4) > Ecology | ||||
Agrovoc terms: | chrysomelidae, salix, coleoptera, animal behavior | ||||
Keywords: | blue willow leaf beetle, clutch size, cognitive map, coleoptera, density, distance, egg pooling, kin recognition, learning, relatedness, salix, phratora vulgatissima | ||||
URN:NBN: | urn:nbn:se:slu:epsilon-e-2697 | ||||
Permanent URL: | http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:slu:epsilon-e-2697 | ||||
Additional ID: |
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ID Code: | 12345 | ||||
Faculty: | LTV - Fakulteten för landskapsarkitektur, trädgårds- och växtproduktionsvetenskap S - Faculty of Forest Sciences | ||||
Department: | (LTJ, LTV) > Department of Plant Protection Biology (NL, NJ) > Dept. of Ecology (S) > Dept. of Ecology | ||||
Deposited By: | SLUpub Connector | ||||
Deposited On: | 15 Jun 2015 08:49 | ||||
Metadata Last Modified: | 09 Sep 2020 14:17 |
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