Nadya Muchoney

University of Nevada, Reno | UNR · Department of Biology

Incorporation of exotic plants into the diets of native herbivores is a common phenomenon, influencing interactions with natural enemies and providing insight into the tritrophic costs and benefits of dietary expansion. We evaluated how use of an exotic plant, Plantago lanceolata, impacted immune performance, development and susceptibility to patho...

Given the barrage of natural enemies that lepidopterans face during their larval stage, the immune response should provide reliable, effective defense against pathogens, parasites, and parasitoids. In this chapter, we review the literature on host plant-mediated interactions that influence the strength of the immune response in caterpillars. First,...

Defense against natural enemies constitutes an important driver of herbivore host range evolution in the wild. Populations of the Baltimore checkerspot butterfly, Euphydryas phaeton (Nymphalidae), have recently incorporated an exotic plant, Plantago lanceolata (Plantaginaceae), into their dietary range. To understand the tritrophic consequences of...

Phytochemical variation among plant species is one of the most fascinating and perplexing features of the natural world and has implications for both human health and the functioning of ecosystems. A key area of research on phytochemical variation has focused on insects that feed on plants and the enormous diversity of plant-derived compounds that...