The way in which herbivorous insect individuals use multiple host species is difficult to quantify under field conditions, but critical to understanding the evolutionary processes underpinning insect-host plant relationships. In this study we developed a novel approach to understanding the host plant interactions of the green mirid, Creontiades dilutus, a highly motile heteropteran bug that has...

Plant pathogens can influence the behavior and performance of insect herbivores. Studies of these associations typically focus on tripartite interactions between a plant host, a plant pathogen, and its insect vector. An unrelated herbivore or pathogen might influence such interactions. This study used a model system consisting of Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV), the psyllid Bactericera cockerelli Su...

Endophytic fungi or endophytes exist widely inside the healthy tissues of living plants, and are important components of plant micro-ecosystems. Over the long period of evolution, some co-existing endophytes and their host plants have established a special relationship with one and another, which can significantly influence the formation of metabolic products in plants, then affect quality and ...

To assess the coextinction of species (the loss of a species upon the loss of another), we present a probabilistic model, scaled with empirical data. The model examines the relationship between coextinction levels (proportion of species extinct) of affiliates and their hosts across a wide range of coevolved interspecific systems: pollinating Ficus wasps and Ficus, parasites and their hosts, but...

It is well-documented that endophytes can enhance the resistance of agronomical grasses, such as tall fescue and perennial ryegrass to herbivory. For native grasses, however, the related reports are limited, and the conclusions are variable. Achnatherum sibiricum is a grass native to the Inner Mongolian steppe. This grass is highly infected by endophytes but does not produce detectable endophyt...

Novotny et al. (Reports, 25 August 2006, p. 1115) argued that higher herbivore diversity in tropical forests results from greater phylogenetic diversity of host plants, not from higher host specificity. However, if host specificity is related to host abundance, differences in relative host abundance between tropical and temperate regions may limit any general conclusion that herbivore diversity...

to determine the effective bio-control agents of water fern, azolla filiculoides, adults and nymphs of water lily aphid, rhopalosiphum nymphaeae (l.), were collected on a. filiculoides in guilan province, iran, during october 2013. this aphid has been collected extensively from almost all water fern samples during 2013 and 2014. although r. nymphaeae was reported from numerous host plants in ir...

Knowledge of how species interactions are influenced by climate warming is paramount to understand current biodiversity changes. We review phenological changes of Swedish butterflies during the latest decades and explore potential climate effects on butterfly-host plant interactions using the Orange tip butterfly Anthocharis cardamines and its host plants as a model system. This butterfly has a...

Evolutionary radiations have been well documented in plants and insects, and natural selection may often underly these radiations. If radiations are adaptive, the diversity of species could be due to ecological speciation in these lineages. Agromyzid flies exhibit patterns of repeated host-associated radiations. We investigated whether host-associated population divergence and evidence of diver...

Host-parasite systems have been models for understanding the connection between shifts in resource use and diversification. Despite theoretical expectations, ambiguity remains regarding the frequency and importance of host switches as drivers of speciation in herbivorous insects and their parasitoids. We examine phylogenetic patterns with multiple genetic markers across three trophic levels usi...