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Influence of Plant Allelochemicals on the Tobacco Hornworm and its Parasitoid, Cotesia Congregata
Author(s) -
Barbosa Pedro,
Gross Paul,
Kemper John
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.144
H-Index - 294
eISSN - 1939-9170
pISSN - 0012-9658
DOI - 10.2307/1940956
Subject(s) - parasitoid , biology , braconidae , manduca sexta , allelopathy , botany , hymenoptera , zoology , ecology , insect , germination
Experiments were conducted to determine if three plant defenses affected the parasitoid Cotesia congregata in a fashion that would influence herbivore—parasitoid interactions. We evaluated the developmental rate, size, and survival of the parasitoid Cotesia congregata, when reared from Manduca sexta fed on diets containing either nicotine, rutin, or hordenine. These results were compared to the effects of the same three chemicals on unparasitized M. sexta. The influences of the three plant defenses differed. In general, however, the effects of these allelochemicals on the parasitoid paralleled those on the unparasitized hornworn. The one major exception was that concentrations of nicotine that had little or no effect on the hornworm caused significant mortality of parasitoids. Neither rutin nor hordenine had large or consistent negative effects, although rutin had a pronounced effect on both hornworm and parasitoid developmental times.