Plant stress and insect behavior: cottonwood, ozone and the feeding and oviposition preference of a beetle

Adults and larvae of the beetle Plagiodera versicolora preferred to feed on and consumed more of cottonwood, Populus deltoides, plant material that had been previously exposed to an acute dose of ozone (0.20 ppm, 5 h), compared to controls in choice experiments. However, females preferred to oviposit on the unexposed controls. Results were consistent for 2 cottonwood clones over 3 years in disc, leaf and whole-plant choice tests. The differential feeding and oviposition response of this insect to stressed plants could have at least 3 unexpected consequences: 1. An immediate increase in damage to stressed trees, but a subsequent decrease in damage. 2. A subsequent increase in damage to unstressed adjacent trees. 3. Changes in the insect and pathogen communities of both stressed and unstressed trees. These complex scenarios show that predicting outcomes of plant stress on plant-insect interactions will require comprchensive examination of behavioral, growth and reproductive responses of insects to stressed plants.