Oviposition behavior in herbivorous and frugivorous insects and parasitoids is dynamic at the level of the individual, responding to variation in host quality and availability. Patterns of variation in egg load in response to host presence and quality suggest that ovarian development also responds to variation in the host environment. Ovarian dynamics are mediated by feedback from oviposition, ...

Abstract Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) populations have declined over the last two decades, attributable in part to declines its larval host plant, milkweed (Asclepias spp.), across breeding range. Conservation efforts United States call for restoration of 1.3 billion stems into Midwestern landscape. Reaching this goal will require habitat establishment marginal croplands, where there is...

Physiological management of migration-reproduction trade-offs in energy allocation often includes a package of adaptions referred to as the oogenesis-flight syndrome. In some species, this trade-off may be overestimated, because factors like flight behavior and environmental conditions may mitigate it. In this study, we examined the reproductive consequences induced by different flight scenario...

Secondary metabolites produced by Trichoderma viride, a deuteromycetes fungus, under submerged culture condition were formulated and evaluated for oviposition attractancy against gravid females of Culex quinquefasciatus mosquito. At a concentration of 10 g ml-1 the formulation showed remarkable attractancy with an oviposition active index (OAI) of +0.52. When the oviposition attractancy of the...

1. Most of what is known about parasitoid behaviour comes from laboratory observations: field quantitative observations on searching parasitoids are extremely difficult to do and are rare. The basic components of Aphytis melinus’s response to California red scale (Aonidiella aurantii) were studied in the laboratory: encounter, rejection, drumming, probing, oviposition, and hostfeeding. It was t...

15 Animals respond to predators by altering their behavior and physiological states, but the 16 underlying signaling mechanisms are poorly understood. Using the interactions between 17 Caenorhabditis elegans and its predator, Pristionchus pacificus, we show that neuronal 18 perception by C. elegans of a predator-specific molecular signature induces instantaneous escape 19 behavior and a prolong...

Sex ratio theory offers excellent opportunities to examine the extent to which individuals adaptively adjust their behavior in response to local conditions. Hamilton's theory of local mate competition, which predicts female-biased sex ratios in structured populations, has been extended in numerous directions to predict individual behavior in response to factors such as relative fecundity, time ...

An examination of oviposition choices by the lesser peachtree borer, Synanthedon pictipes (Grote and Robinson) (Lepidoptera: Sesiidae), showed that wounded peach, Prunus persica (L.) Batsch, bark was attractive to females for oviposition. Females responded to bark that was injured mechanically (e.g., hammer blows, knife cuts, pruning wounds), infested by lesser peachtree borer larvae or injured...