Greenhouse observations of plant herbivore interactions on Lepidium draba to test effects of ontogenic variability

Data were collected from an experimental greenhouse study in which Lepidium draba plants were grown from root cuttings to create plants at different ontogenic stages. Plants were arranged in mixed-age and single-age stands and exposed to the Lepidopteran herbivore, diamondback moth caterpillars. The success (biomass gain and surivival) of herbivores, the amount of feeding, and the growth of plants were recorded as responses to ontogenic stage. In addition, glucosinolates (a group of secondary metabolites known to act as defenses against herbivores) were quantified on plants of differing ontogenic stage.

Categories: Data; Tags: Colorado, Ecology, USGS Science Data Catalog (SDC), biota, diamondback moth, All tags... glucosinolate, invasive plant, neighborhood effects, ontogeny, plant defense, variability, Fewer tags

Data for a lab study of the effects of diet variability on the interactions between a Lepidopteran herbivore and its parasitoid

Data were collected from two laboratory rearing experiments conducted in 2018 of Trichoplusia ni caterpillars that had been parasitized by Copidosoma floridanum parasitoids. In the first experiment, parasitized caterpillars were fed artificial diets spiked with increasing concentrations of the phytochemical xanthotoxin in order to assess the effect of xanthotoxin on parasitoid success. In the second experiment, parasitized caterpillars were switched between diets with differing xanthotoxin concentration, such that all caterpillars experienced the same mean xanthotoxin concentration over their lives, but different treatments experienced different variability in xanthotoxin concentration. Data were recorded on caterpillar...

Categories: Data; Tags: USGS Science Data Catalog (SDC), biota, chemical ecology, herbivory, parasitoid, All tags... top-down control, variability, Fewer tags