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Title: Oviposition strategy as a means of local adaptation to plant defence in native and invasive populations of the viburnum leaf beetle

Author
item DESURMONT, GAYLORD - Cornell University
item HERARD, FRANCK - European Biological Control Laboratory (EBCL)
item AGRAWAL, ANURAG - Cornell University

Submitted to: Proceedings of the Royal Society of London: Biological Sciences
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/7/2011
Publication Date: 8/17/2011
Citation: Desurmont, G.A., Herard, F., Agrawal, A.A. 2011. Oviposition strategy as a means of local adaptation to plant defence in native and invasive populations of the viburnum leaf beetle. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London: Biological Sciences. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2011.1294.

Interpretive Summary: In the native range of the Viburnum leaf beetle, populations coexisting with each host, Viburnum opulus and V. tinus, show an adaptive behavioural response: aggregative versus non-aggregative, respectively. In parallel, we show that in North America, where VLB is invasive, defences of three novel hosts are negatively density-dependent, and beetles’ oviposition behaviour is aggregative. Thus, local adaptation to plant defences has the potential to facilitate the invasion of herbivores onto novel hosts.

Technical Abstract: Herbivores have been hypothesized to adapt locally to variation in plant defences and such adaptation could facilitate novel associations in the context of biological invasions. Here, we show that in the native range of the viburnum leaf beetle (VLB, Pyrrhalta viburni), two populations of geographically isolated hosts – Viburnum opulus and Viburnum tinus – have divergent defences against VLB oviposition: negative versus positive density-dependent egg-crushing wound responses, respectively. Populations of beetles coexisting with each host show an adaptive behavioural response: aggregative versus non-aggregative oviposition on V. opulus and V. tinus, respectively. In parallel, we show that in North America, where VLB is invasive, defences of three novel hosts are negatively density-dependent, and beetles’ oviposition behaviour is aggregative. Thus, local adaptation to plant defences has the potential to facilitate the invasion of herbivores onto novel hosts.