Abstract
Lab-reared sphingid and noctuid moths appear to feed less than wild moths, and often are starved to enhance responsiveness in feeding assays. To measure the impact of larval nutrition on adult feeding, we raised a model sphingid species, Manduca sexta, on control or modified diets (reduced sugar, protein or water, supplemented β-carotene) or cut tobacco leaves, then conducted feeding assays with artificial flowers. Behaviour was scored and analysed in a double-blind manner. Larval diet affected adult eclosion time, size and fat content, the latter of which was inversely proportional to moth approaches to the floral array in a flight cage. In contrast, behaviours refractory to feeding (sitting, escaping) were associated with sex and barometric pressure, but not with diet or fat content. Frequency of floral approaches and probing was not associated with any variable. However, moths reared on β-carotene-supplemented diet were 2-3 times more likely to feed, and significantly less likely to sit or show "escape" behaviour than were moths from most other treatments. Our results suggest that decreased visual sensitivity, rather than increased fat content, accounts for reduced adult feeding by lab-reared M. sexta.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 923-932 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | Journal of Insect Physiology |
| Volume | 53 |
| Issue number | 9 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Sep 2007 |
Funding
This paper is dedicated to the memory of Reginald Chapman, whose singular ability to integrate insect physiology and behaviour inspired our study. Peter Anderson, Ralph Backhaus, Jon Harrison, John Hildebrand, Judy Jaworski, Diane O’Brien, Marc Perkins, Stuart Reynolds, Lynn Riddiford, Dick Vogt, Glenn Walsberg, Mark Willis and Rolf Ziegler provided advice and assistance, and Almut Kelber's suggestions greatly improved the manuscript. The senior author thanks Phil Newland, Guy Poppy and Lindy Holden-Dye for the invitation to present these results in Southampton, UK. Thanks to Bernard Blaney and Oliver Towns Burgess for data collection, Laurel Hester and John MacDonald (NP Analytical Laboratories, Purina, Inc.) for discussing lipid metabolism, Robert Raguso Sr. for meteorological advice and Dick White for suggesting the β -carotene supplement. Funds for fat content analysis were provided by an undergraduate research supplement to US National Science Foundation (NSF) EPSCoR Grant No. EPS-0132573. Ms. Desai and Ms. Jurkiewicz were supported by Howard Hughes Medical Institute fellowships at USC. Ms. Ojeda-Avila was supported by the NSF Undergraduate Research in Integrated Evolutionary Biology programme at USC (Grant DBI-0451403) and an REU supplement to NSF Grant DEB-9806840. This manuscript was prepared with support from the US National Institute of Health (NIH) Grant RR-P20 RR 016461, the BRIN Program of the National Center for Research Resources, and NSF grants DEB-9977047 and IBN-0444163. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH or the NSF.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| RR-P20 RR 016461 | |
| Howard Hughes Medical Institute | DBI-0451403, DEB-9806840 |
| P20RR016461, IBN-0444163, DEB-9977047 | |
Keywords
- Artificial diet
- Fat composition
- Manduca sexta
- Nectar foraging
- Starvation
- Visual pigment