Behavioural plasticity induced by intraspecific competition in host orientation in a parasitoid.

CRESPO. J.E.; CASTELO, M.K.; MARTÍNEZ, G.A.

ECOLOGICAL ENTOMOLOGY

WILEY-BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, INC

Lugar: Londres; Año: 2017

0307-6946

1. Accurate measurement of external conditions is fundamental for survival. Particularly for parasitoids, sensing the environmental conditions is central because they are short lived animals that must acquire information shortly after emergence. 2. We studied if conspecifics during larval growth can influence and modify the decision to orient to different quality hosts in a parasitoid with an active host seeking larva. We also studied how density of conspecifics during growth modifies these decisions. 3. When larvae were submitted to increases in the intensity of pre-parasitism competition and then offered different host odors, they increased the orientation to poor quality hosts likewise. We also found that this behaviour is general to orientation to hosts in different physiological states. 4. Our results show that pre-parasitism competition can influence and modulate orientation to poor quality hosts when high quality hosts are not available.