Journal Article10.1086/284302
Evolution of insect/host plant relationships
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TL;DR: Host plant selection is mainly a behavioral process which is governed primarily by chemoreception, and the emergence of specific insect/host plant relationships most likely results from evolutionary changes in the insects' chemosensory systems.
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Abstract: The evolutionary interactions between plants and phytophagous insects are asymmetric: the biochemical and structural diversity of the angiosperms provide a profusion of niches for the evolutionary radiation (cladogenesis) of the insects, while the insects do not affect plant evolution or, at most, may cause anagenic changes in the plants. (Figwasps and figs may represent a rare case of coevolution sensu stricto.) Thus, the evolution of insects generally follows that of the plants ("sequential evolution"). Because the selection pressure exerted by insect attacks is weak or lacking, they could not have been the main cause of the appearance and maintenance of allelochemicals in plants. Nevertheless, these compounds basically determine the plants' "biochemical profile" by which the insects distinguish between host and nonhost plants. Interspecific competition is largely lacking among phytophagous insects in natural communities, so it could not have evoked stenophagy (i.e., resource partitioning) in the insect...
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Citations
Lithinine moths on ferns: a phylogenetic study of insect-plant interactions.
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Evolution of phytophagy in trombidiform mites
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Local adaptation and ecological genetics of host-plant specialization in a leaf beetle
TL;DR: It is concluded that although there is selection for specialization in larval performance traits it seems as if the genetic architecture of these traits have limited the divergence between populations in relative performance on the two hosts.
Spatio-Temporal, Genotypic, and Environmental Effects on Plant Soluble Protein and Digestible Carbohydrate Content: Implications for Insect Herbivores with Cotton as an Exemplar
TL;DR: The data show that even agricultural monocultures offer a highly heterogeneous protein-carbohydrate landscape for insect herbivores, and characterizing plant resources using nutritional currencies that are ecologically and physiologically-relevant to insects can be used to enhance understanding of plant-insect interactions.
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