Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T09:50:29.095Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Winter moth (Operophtera brumata (Lepidoptera: Geometridae)) outbreaks on Scottish heather moorlands: effects of host plant and parasitoids on larval survival and development

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

J.E. Kerslake ,
L.E.B. Kruuk ,
S.E. Hartley  and
S.J. Woodin
J.E. Kerslake*
Affiliation:
Department of Plant and Soil Science, University of Aberdeen, UK
L.E.B. Kruuk
Affiliation:
Institute of Terrestrial Ecology, Banchory, Kincardineshire, UK
S.E. Hartley
Affiliation:
Institute of Terrestrial Ecology, Banchory, Kincardineshire, UK
S.J. Woodin
Affiliation:
Department of Plant and Soil Science, University of Aberdeen, UK
*
J.E. Kerslake, Department of Plant and Soil Science, University of Aberdeen, St Machar Drive, Aberdeen AB9 2UD, UK.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Outbreaks of the winter moth, Operophtera brumata Linnaeus (Lepidoptera: Geometridae), have recently become widespread on heather moorlands in northeast Scotland. These outbreaks represent remarkable phenomena given the poor nutritional quality of the dominant moorland host plant Calluna vulgaris (Linnaeus) Hull (Ericaceae). Winter moth performance on C. vulgaris was compared with that on the other available moorland host plant, Vaccinium myrtillus (Linnaeus) (Ericaceae), and parasitism levels were measured in two moorland outbreak populations. Larval densities in the field were generally higher on Calluna than on Vaccinium. However, larvae showed better survival, more rapid development and greater pupal weights on Vaccinium than on Calluna. Feeding trials indicated that Vaccinium was more digestible than Calluna. No evidence of parasitism was found in a high-altitude moorland winter moth outbreak population from mainland Scotland, but the parasitoid Phobocampe neglecta (Holmgren) (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) was present in 27% of larvae from a lower-altitude moorland outbreak on Orkney. The results indicate that the presence of Vaccinium and the opportunity to escape from parasitism may facilitate O. brumata outbreak formation in high-altitude moorland sites. However, neither factor can provide a full explanation for the present phenomenon.

Type
Research Article
Information
Bulletin of Entomological Research , Volume 86 , Issue 2 , April 1996 , pp. 155 - 164
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Baines, D., Sage, R.B. & Baines, M.M. (1994) The implications of red deer grazing to ground vegetation and invertebrate communities of Scottish native pinewoods. Journal of Applied Ecology 31, 776–783.Google Scholar
Berdowski, J.J.M. & Zeilinga, R. (1987) Transition from heath-land to grassland, damaging effects of the heather beetle. Journal of Ecology 75, 159–175.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brunsting, A.M.H. & Heil, G.W. (1985) The role of nutrients in the interactions between a herbivorous beetle and some competing plant species in heathlands. Oikos 44, 23–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coulson, J.C. & Whittaker, J.B. (1978) Ecology of moorland animals, pp. 52–416in Heal, O.W., Perkins, D.F. & Brown, W.M. (Eds) Production ecology of British moors and montane grasslands. Berlin, Springer (Ecological Studies 27).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cuming, F.G. (1961) The distribution, life history, and economic importance of the winter moth, Operophtera brumata (L.) (Lepidoptera, Geometridae) in Nova Scotia. Canadian Entomologist 93, 135–142.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feeny, P.P. (1968) Effect of oak leaf tannins on larval growth of the winter moth Operophtera brumata. Journal of Insect Physiology 14, 805–817.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feeny, P.P. (1970) Seasonal changes in oak leaf tannins and nutrients as a cause of spring feeding by winter moth caterpillars. Ecology 51, 565–581.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fielding, C. (1992) Aspects of the ecology of the Lepidoptera associated with heather Calluna vulgaris. PhD Thesis, University of Durham.Google Scholar
Gilbert, L.E. & Singer, M.C. (1975) Butterfly ecology. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 6, 365–394.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gimingham, C.H. (1960) Biological flora of the British Isles. Calluna vulgaris (L.) Hull. Journal of Ecology 49, 655–694.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gimingham, C.H. (1972) Ecology of heathlands. 266 pp. London, Chapman & Hall.Google Scholar
Hahlbrock, K. & Scheel, D. (1989) Physiology and molecular biology of phenylpropanoid metabolism. Annual Review of Plant Physiology and Plant Molecular Biology 40, 347–369.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hassell, M.P. (1980) Foraging strategies, population models and biological control: a case study. Journal of Animal Ecology 49, 603–628.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heil, G.W. & Diemont, W.H. (1983) Raised nutrient levels change heathland into grassland. Vegetatio 53, 113–120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hunter, M.D. (1992) A variable insect-plant interaction: the relationship between tree budburst phenology and population levels of insect herbivores among trees. Ecological Entomology 16, 91–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hunter, M.D., Watt, A.D. & Docherty, M. (1991) Outbreaks of the winter moth on Sitka spruce in Scotland are not influenced by nutrient deficiencies of trees, tree budburst, or pupal predation. Oecologia 86, 62–69.Google Scholar
lason, G.R., Hartley, S.E. & Duncan, A.J. (1993) Chemical composition of Calluna vulgaris (Ericaceae): do responses to fertilizer vary with phenological stage? Biochemical Systematics and Ecology 21, 315–321.Google Scholar
Jordan, A.M. (1962) Coleophora alticolella Zell. (Lepidoptera) and its food-plant Juncus squarrosus L. in the northern Pennines. Journal of Animal Ecology 31, 293–304.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lähdesmäki, P., Pakonen, T., Saari, E., Laine, K., Tasanen, L.Havas, P. (1990) Changes in total nitrogen, protein, amino acids and NH4 in tissues of bilberry, Vaccinium myrtillus, during the growing season. Holarctic Ecology 13, 31–38.Google Scholar
Marrs, R.H. (1986) The role of catastrophic death of Calluna in heathland dynamics. Vegetatio 66, 109–115.Google Scholar
Niemelä, P. & Laine, K. (1986) Green islands—predation not nutrition. Oecologia 68, 476–478.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Picozzi, N. (1981) Common gull predation of winter moth larvae. Bird Study 26, 68–69.Google Scholar
Pitcairn, C.E.R., Fowler, D. & Grace, J. (1995) Deposition of fixed atmospheric nitrogen and foliar nitrogen content of bryophytes and Calluna vulgaris (L.) Hull. Environmental Pollution 88, 193–205.Google Scholar
Powell, C.F. & Malcolm, D.C. (1974) Seasonal and spatial variation in the mineral content of some upland vegetation types in Scotland. Journal of Applied Ecology 11, 1173–1184.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Radford, P.J. (1967) Growth analysis formulae—their use and abuse. Crop Science 7, 171–175.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ratcliffe, D.A. & Thompson, D.B.A. (1988) The British uplands: their ecological character and international significance. pp. 9–36in Usher, M.B. & Thompson, D.B.A. (Eds) Ecological change in the uplands. Oxford, Blackwell (Special publication number 7 of the British Ecological Society).Google Scholar
Risch, S.J. (1985) Effects of induced chemical changes on interpretation of feeding preference tests. Entomologia Expertmentalis et Applicata 39, 81–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ritchie, J.C, (1956) Biological flora of the British Isles. Vaccinium vitis-idaea L. Journal of Ecology 44, 701–708.Google Scholar
Roland, J. (1990) Interaction of parasitism and predation in the decline of winter moth in Canada, pp. 289–302in Watt, A.D. (Ed.) Population dynamics of forest insects. Andover, Intercept.Google Scholar
Roland, J. & Myers, J.H. (1987) Improved insect performance from host-plant defoliation: winter moth on oak and apple. Ecological Entomology 12, 409–414.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stoakley, J.T. (1985) Outbreaks of winter moth, Operophtera brumata L. (Lep., Geometridae) in young plantations of Sitka spruce in Scotland; insecticidal control and population assessment using the sex attractant pheromone. Zeitschrift für angewandte Entomologie 99, 153–160.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tenow, O. (1972) The outbreaks of Oporinia autumnata Bkh. and Operophtera spp. (Lep., Geometridae) in the Scandinavian mountain chain and northern Finland, 1862–1968. Zoologiska Bidrag Fran Uppsala Supplement 2.Google Scholar
Waldbauer, G.P. (1968) The consumption and utilization of food by insects. Advances in Insect Physiology 5, 229–288.Google Scholar
Watt, A.D. (1989) The growth and survival of Panolis flammea larvae in the absence of predators on Scots pine and lodgepole pine. Ecological Entomology 14, 225–234.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Watt, A.D. & McFarlane, A.M. (1991) Winter moth on Sitka spruce: synchrony of egg hatch and budburst, and its effect on larval survival. Ecological Entomology 16, 387–390.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, T.C.R. (1984) The abundance of invertebrate herbivores in relation to the availability of nitrogen in stressed food plants. Oecologia 63, 90–105.Google Scholar
Wint, G.R.W. (1983) The effect of foliar nutrients upon the growth and feeding of a lepidopteran larva, pp. 301–320in Lee, J.A., McNeill, S. & Rorison, J.A. (Eds) Nitrogen as an ecological factor. Oxford, Blackwell (Symposium, British Ecological Society No. 22).Google Scholar