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Between a rock and an egg‐crushing place: selection pressure from natural enemies and plant defences on eggs of the viburnum leaf beetle in its native range
Author(s) -
Desurmont Gaylord A.,
Kerdellant Elven,
Lambin Nicolas
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
ecological entomology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.865
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1365-2311
pISSN - 0307-6946
DOI - 10.1111/een.12936
Subject(s) - biology , parasitism , viburnum , leaf beetle , host (biology) , ecology , range (aeronautics) , mediterranean climate , invasive species , botany , larva , materials science , composite material
1. The viburnum leaf beetle (VLB) is native to Eurasia and invasive in North America. It lays eggs inside young Viburnum twigs; eggs can be crushed by plant defences (wounding response) and attacked by natural enemies (parasitoids). 2. We evaluated plant defences and parasitism rates in 42 field sites in 11 European countries, on three host plants ( V. opulus , V. lantana , and V. tinus ), and under two main climatic conditions (Mediterranean, oceanic/continental). 3. Plant defences killed six times more eggs than natural enemies overall (25.4% vs. 4.1%). This effect was consistent for all host plants and climatic conditions. Egg survivorship and parasitism were lower in Mediterranean sites. 4. Parasitism was positively density‐dependent, indicating a higher risk of parasitism on heavily infested twigs, but this effect was confounded with host plant species. 5. These results suggest that plant defences have been the dominant selection force driving the evolution of VLB oviposition behaviour.