Butterfly host plant use driven by microclimate not nutritional quality

The abundance of insect herbivores often depends on host plant suitability for their specialised immature stages. Suitability can be strongly influenced by both microclimate and the nutritional quality of the plants themselves. Where soil nitrogen is high, host plants tend to have high nutritional quality, but vigorous growth of surrounding vegetation reduces microclimatic temperatures. Thus, thermophilous insects may face a choice between host plants with optimal microclimates and those with optimal nutritional quality. We investigated how microclimate and nitrogen content influence oviposition choices by the declining Small Copper butterfly, Lycaena phlaeas, on its host plant, Rumex acetosa. We predicted that warmer plants would have lower nitrogen content, and that butterflies would choose cooler, high-nitrogen plants during warmer ambient conditions. Although warmer R. acetosa plants had lower nitrogen content, L. phlaeas consistently chose to lay eggs on plants in warm microclimate..., , # Butterfly host plant use driven by microclimate not nutritional quality Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.hqbzkh1wk](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.hqbzkh1wk) ## Description of the data and file structure Data collected to support investigations into the role of microclimate around host plants and nutritional quality of host plants in shaping oviposition by a specialist herbivorous butterfly. Each row in the dataset is a host plant, either a plant with one or more eggs or larvae (plant_id contains 'e') or a control plant next to an occupied plant (in a randomly selected direction) (plant_id contains 'c'). There are two datasets, one smaller dataset (plant chemistry data) which contains chemical data for a sample of host plants along with data on possible proxies for this chemical data. This data was used to identify the best proxies for host nutritional quality (nitrogen content). The second larger dataset was then used for all further analyses. It contains data about host plant chemi...,昆虫植食者的种群丰富度通常取决于宿主植物对其特化幼期阶段的适宜性。宿主植物的适宜性会同时受到微气候（microclimate）与植物自身营养品质（nutritional quality）的强烈影响。当土壤氮含量较高时，宿主植物往往具备较高的营养品质，但周边植被的旺盛生长会降低局部微气候温度。因此，嗜热昆虫可能需要在具备最优微气候的宿主植物与具备最优营养品质的宿主植物之间做出权衡。本研究针对渐危的红灰蝶（Lycaena phlaeas），探究其在宿主植物酸模（Rumex acetosa）上的产卵选择如何受微气候与氮含量的调控。我们提出如下假说：温度更高的宿主植物其氮含量更低，且在环境温度较高时，蝴蝶会优先选择温度较低、氮含量较高的宿主植物。尽管温度更高的酸模植株氮含量确实更低，但红灰蝶始终选择在处于温暖微气候的植株上产卵……，# 蝴蝶宿主选择由微气候而非营养品质驱动 数据集DOI：[10.5061/dryad.hqbzkh1wk](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.hqbzkh1wk) ## 数据与文件结构说明 本数据集用于支撑相关研究，探究宿主植物周边微气候与宿主植物营养品质在特化植食性蝶类产卵选择塑造过程中的作用。数据集中每一行对应一株宿主植物，要么为带有一枚或多枚卵或幼虫的植株（plant_id中包含'e'），要么为位于被占用植株旁随机方向的对照植株（plant_id中包含'c'）。 本数据集包含两个子数据集：其一为规模较小的植物化学数据集，包含部分宿主植物的化学分析数据，以及可替代该化学数据的相关替代指标数据，该数据集用于筛选宿主营养品质（氮含量）的最优替代指标。 其二为规模更大的数据集，用于后续所有分析，该数据集包含宿主植物化学……