Journal of Insect Behavior (2015) 28, 147-156

D.E. Ennis, B.J. Mader, K. Burnside, E. Bauce and E. Despland (2015)
Is feeding behaviour on foliage affected by lab-rearing on artificial diet?
Journal of Insect Behavior 28 (2), 147-156
Abstract: Eastern spruce budworm, Choristoneura fumiferana, larvae were reared on white spruce (Picea glauca) foliage and/or an agar based artificial diet medium for different proportions of their development: fed foliage throughout, fed diet until the 4th instar then foliage for two instars, fed diet until the 6th instar then foliage for 24 h and fed diet only. The insects were then observed feeding on white spruce needles. First, insects reared exclusively on artificial diet exhibited a longer latency to initiate feeding than insects with some prior exposure to foliage. Second, artificial diet-reared insects and those pretreated on foliage for only a few hours had significantly longer meals but lower food consumption than those reared exclusively on foliage or pretreated on foliage for two instars, suggesting that artificial diet-reared insects ingest foliage more slowly during a meal. Third, caterpillars pretreated on foliage for several days, like their diet-reared and short exposure counterparts, had longer intermeal intervals than foliage-reared caterpillars. Finally, subsequent measurements showed that diet-reared budworm have smaller head capsules than foliage-reared insects. These findings show that prior experience influences a folivore's behaviour on a given food, that insects reared on artificial diet do not develop the same ability to feed on plants as do foliage-reared insects and that different mechanisms of acclimation to a food operate at different time scales.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Link to article at publishers website
Database assignments for author(s): Emma Despland, Eric Bauce

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
rearing/culturing/mass production

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Choristoneura fumiferana	Spruce (Picea)