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The evolution of visual warning signals is well known in animals but has received scant attention in plants. The coevolutionary hypothesis is the most influential hypothesis on warning signals in plants proposing that red and yellow leaf colours in autumn signal defensive strength to herbivores. So far, evidence in support of the hypothesis, which assumes a coevolutionary origin of autumnal leaf colours, is correlative and open to alternative explanations. We therefore tested the coevolutionary hypothesis experimentally by colouring the leaves either red or green of same-aged mountain ash (Sorbus aucuparia) individuals. We monitored the response of winged aphids to leaf colour using insect glue on branches with natural and artificial leaf colours in each individual. In contrast to the prediction of the coevolutionary hypothesis, aphid numbers did not differ between the individuals with artificial green or artificial red leaves. Likewise, at the within-plant level, aphids did not colonize branches with natural green leaves preferentially. However, we suggest that plants emitted warning signals because aphids colonized the hosts non-randomly. We found a strong positive correlation between aphid numbers and fruit production, suggesting an allocation trade-off between investment in plant defence and reproduction. Our study demonstrates that aphids use warning signals or cues in host selection, probably volatiles, but that they did not use leaf colour.

Aphids do not attend to leaf colour as visual signal, but to the handicap of reproductive investment