A positive preference-performance linkage for lace bug Corythucha marmorata on drought-stressed Solidago altissima

Plant stress and plant vigor are endpoints on a continuum of plants’ suitability for insect herbivores. Insects of two trophic classifications, senescence-feeders and flush-feeders, tap into increased flows of nutrients from old and senescing tissues or to new and fast-growing tissues, respectively. Senescence-feeders, such as the chrysanthemum lace bug, Corythucha marmorata (Hemiptera: Tingidae), are hypothesized to benefit from any factor hastening the senescence of plant tissues, such as drought. They are also hypothesized to prefer feeding and ovipositing on stressed plants, due to increased performance of themselves and their offspring. We conducted choice and no-choice field experiments to test the effects of drought stress on the oviposition preference and nymph survival of C. marmorata on its goldenrod host, Solidago altissima (Asteraceae). We placed lace bugs on high and low-water treatment plants and surveyed egg and nymph densities twice weekly, and then collected newly developed adults, weighed them, and analyzed them to determine nitrogen concentration at the end of the experiment. Low-water treatment plants experienced decreased growth and increased leaf senescence. Lace bugs preferred to oviposit their eggs on low-water treatment plants, and their nymphs had significantly greater survival, faster maturation, and had higher adult mass than those on high-water treatment plants. Lace bugs from low-water plants had lower nitrogen concentrations by weight, but contained more total nitrogen. These results suggest that lace bugs prefer and perform better on drought-stressed plants due to mobilization of structural nitrogen increasing the nutritional quality of stressed tissues.