Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 6, 2026

Author Spotlight: Investigating the Tolerance of Cabbage Butterflies to Urban Pollutants
Published on: August 18, 2023
Phenotypic plasticity and nutrition in a phytophagous insect: consequences of colonizing a new host
Marcus Leclaire1, Roland Brandl2
1Lehrstuhl für Tierökologie, Universität Bayreuth, Postfach 101251, D-95440, Bayreuth, Germany.
Abstract:
The European rose-hip fruit fly Rhagoletis alternata (Diptera, Tephritidae) infests hips of Rosa species. This fly includes R. rugosa, an Asian species now cultivated all over Europe, in its host range. Differences in size and biomass of hips between the ancestral host R. canina and the new host translate into better growth, shorter larval development of larvae within hips of R. rugosa and larger body size and fertility of flies which developing in the new host. In turn this causes different interactions with other organisms of the food-web centred on the host plant. The importance of nutrition and phenotypic plasticity is twofold: they generate a considerable part of life-history diversity within a species and reinforce differences in the ecological context of the ancestral and new host.
More Related Videos
06:56Preparing and Rearing Axenic Insects with Tissue Cultured Seedlings for Host-Gut Microbiota Interaction Studies of the Leaf Beetle
Published on: October 8, 2021
07:24Quantification of Macronutrients Intake in a Thermogenetic Neuronal Screen using Drosophila Larvae
Published on: June 11, 2020
Related Concept Videos
Frequency-dependent Selection
Background and Environment Affect Phenotype
An example of how genetic background affects phenotype can be seen in horses. The Extension gene in horses is responsible for their coat color. A wild-type gene (EE) produces black pigment in the coat, while a mutant gene (ee) produces red pigment. A...
Predator-Prey Interactions
Transduction
Epiphytes, Parasites, and Carnivores
What is Natural Selection?