Data from: A context-dependent induction of natal habitat preference in a generalist herbivorous insect

In many species adults exploit sensory information experienced in their natal habitat when searching for resources. This behavioral plasticity may help animals to establish themselves in new habitats by quickly locating suitable resources and avoiding unsuitable resources in complex environments. However the processes guiding positive or negative natal habitat preference induction (NHPI) remain poorly understood. In the polyphagous moth Spodoptera littoralis, earlier studies have shown that female innate host-plant preference is modulated by larval feeding experience. In this context, the aim of this study was to investigate how variability in food quality associated with habitat olfactory cues can modulate NHPI in this species. We found that larvae showed appetitive or aversive responses to the experienced plant olfactory cues based on their values as predictors of food quality. Furthermore, larval exposure to host-plant olfactory cues alone induced oviposition preference for these plants in adult females, but only when the females had been feeding on high-quality food as larvae. Females reared on poor quality food retained their innate plant oviposition preference as adults. These results show that NHPI in S. littoralis is context-dependent and based on food quality with which olfactory cues are associated. They also suggest that larval experience to plant olfactory cues alone is sufficient to modulate the adult host plant preference. Finally, this study suggests that polyphagous insects with particular innate plant preferences may only show phenotypic plasticity in this trait when the fitness benefits are high.

在众多物种中，成虫在搜寻资源时会利用其在出生栖息地（natal habitat）中获得的感官信息。这种行为可塑性可帮助动物通过快速定位适宜资源、规避复杂环境中的不适宜资源，从而在新栖息地中成功定殖。然而，指导正向或负向出生栖息地偏好诱导（natal habitat preference induction, NHPI）的过程仍尚未得到充分解析。
针对多食性蛾类埃及棉夜蛾（Spodoptera littoralis），已有早期研究表明，雌虫的先天寄主植物偏好会受幼虫取食经历的调控。在此背景下，本研究旨在探究与栖息地嗅觉线索相关联的食物质量变异，如何调控该物种的出生栖息地偏好诱导。
研究结果显示，幼虫会根据植物嗅觉线索作为食物质量预测因子的价值，对其经历过的植物嗅觉线索表现出趋性或避性反应。此外，仅让幼虫暴露于寄主植物嗅觉线索中，便可诱导成年雌虫对这些植物产生产卵偏好，但该效应仅在雌虫幼虫阶段取食过高质量食物时才会显现；而以低质量食物饲养的幼虫发育为成虫后，仍保留其先天的植物产卵偏好。
上述结果表明，埃及棉夜蛾的出生栖息地偏好诱导具有情境依赖性，且其调控依赖于与嗅觉线索相关联的食物质量。研究同时提示，仅让幼虫获得植物嗅觉线索的经历，便足以调控成虫的寄主植物偏好。本研究最终还提示，具有特定先天植物偏好的多食性昆虫，仅在适合度收益较高时，才会在该性状上表现出表型可塑性。