Foraging responses in the butterflies <Emphasis Type="Italic">Inachis
io</Emphasis>, <Emphasis Type="Italic">Aglais urticae</Emphasis> (Nymphalidae), and <Emphasis Type="Italic">Gonepteryx
rhamni</Emphasis> (Pieridae) to floral scents |
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Authors: | Susanna Andersson |
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Institution: | (1) Max-Planck Institute of Chemical Ecology, Bioorganics, Beutenberg Campus, Winzerlaerstr. 10, D-07745 Jena, Germany, DE |
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Abstract: | Summary. For butterflies to be efficient foragers, they need to
be able to recognize rewarding flowers. Flower signals such as colours
and scents assist this recognition process. For plant species to attract
and keep butterflies as pollinators, species-specific floral signals are
crucial. The aim of this study is to investigate foraging responses to
floral scents in three temperate butterfly species, Inachis io L.
(Nymphalidae), Aglais urticae L. (Nymphalidae), and
Gonepteryx rhamni L. (Pieridae), in behavioural choice
bioassays. The butterflies were allowed to choose bet-ween flower models
varying in scent and colour (mauve or green). Flowers or vegetative
parts from the plants Centaurea scabiosa L. (Asteraceae),
Cirsium arvense (L.) (Asteraceae), Knautia arvensis (L.)
(Dipsacaceae), Buddleja davidii Franchet (Loganicaeae), Origanum vulgareL. (Lamiaceae), Achillea millefolium L. (Asteraceae), and
Philadelphus coronarius L. (Hydrangiaceae) were used as scent
sources. All visits to the models — those that included probing and
those that did not — were counted, as was the duration of these
behaviours. Both flower-naive and flower-experienced (conditioned to
sugar-water rewards, the colour mauve, and specific floral scents)
butterflies were tested for their preference for floral versus
vegetative scents, and to floral scent versus colour. The butterflies
were also tested for their ability to switch floral scent preferences in
response to rewards. Flower-naive butterflies demonstrated a preference
for the floral scent of the butterfly-favourable plants C.
arvense and K. arvensis over the floral scent of the non-favourable
plants Achillea millefolium (Asteraceae), and Philadelphus
coronarius cv. (Hydrangiaceae). Most of the butterflies that were
conditioned to floral scents of either C. arvense, K. arvensis,
or B. davidii readily switched theirfloral scent preferences to
the one most recently associated with reward, thus demonstrating that
floral scent constancy is a result from learning. These findings suggest
that these butterflies use floral scent as an important cue signal to
initially identify and subsequently recognize and distinguish among
rewarding plants.
Received 2 September 2001; accepted 9 September 2002. |
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Keywords: | , Lepidoptera —, butterfly —, Inachis io —,Aglais urticae —, Gonepteryx rhamni —, floral scent —, nectar foraging —, choice,,,,,bioassay —, GC-MS |
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