Effects of larval host plants and pyrrolizidine alkaloid containing plants on monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) mating behavior Pubblico

Kelly, Kieran (Spring 2022)

Permanent URL: https://etd.library.emory.edu/concern/etds/mp48sf20n?locale=it
Published

Abstract

Plants and insects have co-existed for millions of years leading to intricate relationships. Danaine butterflies are a family of butterflies specialized on species of milkweed as their larval host plants and also sequester pyrrolizidine alkaloids from various plant sources during their adult life. Here we investigated how the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) modulates its mating behavior based on pre- and post-eclosion interactions with both their milkweed host plants and plants containing pyrrolizidine alkaloid plants. We used a series of choice and no-choice mating trials to determine if monarch butterflies demonstrate assortative mating in regard to larval host plant. In choice trials, we found that male monarchs reared on a different species of milkweed host plant will outcompete male monarchs reared on the same milkweed host plant as the female monarch. Additionally, we exposed adult monarch butterflies, all reared on the same host plant, to plants containing pyrrolizidine alkaloids to determine how these immediate plant-insect interactions influenced mating behavior. We found that the addition of pyrrolizidine alkaloid containing plants did not alter monarch butterfly mating behavior. Overall, our data add to the growing list of studies demonstrating how distinct species of milkweed can influence and alter monarch butterfly behavior.

Table of Contents

Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………………1

Title……………………………………………………………………………………………….2

Acknowledgments……………………………………………………………………………….3

Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………….5

Methods…………………………………………………………………………………………...9

Results……………………………………………………………………………………………16

Discussion ……………………………………………………………………………………….19

Figures and Graphs………………………………………………………………………………23

References ………………………………………………………………………………………27

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