Search

The mechanisms through which trophic interactions between species are indirectly mediated by distant members in a food web have received increasing attention in the field of ecology of multitrophic interactions. Scarcely studied aspects include the effects of varying plant chemistry on herbivore immune defences against parasitoids. We investigated the effects of constitutive and herbivore-induced variation in the nutritional quality of wild and cultivated populations of cabbage (Brassica oleracea) on the ability of small cabbage white Pieris rapae (Lepidoptera, Pieridae) larvae to encapsulate eggs of the parasitoid Cotesia glomerata (Hymenoptera, Braconidae). Average encapsulation rates in caterpillars parasitised as first instars were low and did not differ among plant populations, with caterpillar weight positively correlating with the rates of encapsulation. When caterpillars were parasitised as second instar larvae, encapsulation of eggs increased. Caterpillars were larger on the cultivated Brussels sprouts plants and exhibited higher levels of encapsulation compared with caterpillars on plants of either of the wild cabbage populations. Observed differences in encapsulation rates between plant populations could not be explained exclusively by differences in host growth on the different Brassica populations. Previous herbivore damage resulted in a reduction in the larval weight of subsequent herbivores with a concomitant reduction in encapsulation responses on both Brussels sprouts and wild cabbage plants. To our knowledge this is the first study demonstrating that constitutive and herbivore-induced changes in plant chemistry act in concert, affecting the immune response of herbivores to parasitism. We argue that plant-mediated immune responses of herbivores may be important in the evaluation of fitness costs and benefits of herbivore diet on the third trophic level.

In the field, plants are attacked by several herbivore species both simultaneously and in isolation. Spatial variation in damage to plants by different herbivores may affect the search behaviour of parasitoid wasps, but the consequences of this variation for hosteparasitoid interactions are still little understood. We examined the effects of multiple herbivory on the search behaviour of the parasitoid Cotesia glomerata. Reduced parasitism was found in a field tent experiment, when both the host small cabbage white, Pieris rapae, and the nonhost cabbage moth, Mamestra brassicae, were present on Brassica oleracea plants. When hosts and nonhosts occurred on the same or neighbouring plants, this reduction in parasitism was similar, but the underlying behavioural mechanisms were different. In wind tunnel bioassays, parasitoids were equally attracted towards plants infested by the two herbivore species but were more attracted to plants with both herbivore species than to plants with only one. Differences in arrival tendencies therefore could not explain the reduced parasitism in the tent experiment with mixed infestations. Experiments showed that parasitoids readily left nonhost patches, whereas leaving tendencies from mixed patches of hosts and nonhosts were the same as from pure host patches. Therefore, reduced leaving tendencies and reduced host encounters explained the lower parasitism rate in mixed infestations in the tent experiment. Our results show that the spatial context in which hosts and nonhosts attack plants determines the foraging efficiency of parasitoids, with consequences for hosteparasitoid interactions.