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<p>Studies on diet mixing for generalist herbivores have documented improved performance for a range of animals from insects to mammals; however, examination of the benefits of diet mixing for generalist parasitic plants has been limited. We examined whether a generalist holoparasite, <i>Cuscuta gronovii,</i> benefits from using a mixed diet. In three replicate experiments, we created six possible pairings for three species of host plants, one from each of three families (Asteraceae, Fabaceae, and Lamiaceae). Host plants were offered to <i>C. gronovii</i> in either monospecific or heterospecific pairs; in so doing, three single-species pairs and three mixed-species pairs were created. Using a nested ANOVA in each experiment, we tested the effects of diet treatment (single-host vs. mixed) and plant pairs on total seed production of <i>C. gronovii</i>. We also asked an additional, similar question using three species from the genus <i>Symphyotrichum</i> (Asteraceae). No support for a benefit of diet mixing was detected for <i>C. gronovii</i>. In contrast, plant pairs (and host species associated with those host pairs) explained the vast majority of variation in plant parasite performance in every experiment. This outcome suggests that some putative host species are in fact non-hosts, while other species are susceptible hosts, and still other species are resistant to <i>C. gronovii</i>. Thus, our study suggests that the benefit of diet mixing seen for herbivores cannot be generalized to include this parasitic plant. While diet mixing does not increase the fitness of <i>C. gronovii</i>, host plant quality associated with plant defenses appears to mediate parasite success.</p>

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Quality varies among host species, but diet mixing provides no benefit to the generalist parasite, Cuscuta gronovii

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2025年6月30日

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  • Cris G. Hochwender,
  • E. Ann Powell,
  • Elyse Talley,
  • Caitlin Caldwell,
  • Darcie Smith,
  • Adam Dillman,
  • Jordon Lachowecki,
  • Christie H. Guetling

摘要

Studies on diet mixing for generalist herbivores have documented improved performance for a range of animals from insects to mammals; however, examination of the benefits of diet mixing for generalist parasitic plants has been limited. We examined whether a generalist holoparasite, Cuscuta gronovii, benefits from using a mixed diet. In three replicate experiments, we created six possible pairings for three species of host plants, one from each of three families (Asteraceae, Fabaceae, and Lamiaceae). Host plants were offered to C. gronovii in either monospecific or heterospecific pairs; in so doing, three single-species pairs and three mixed-species pairs were created. Using a nested ANOVA in each experiment, we tested the effects of diet treatment (single-host vs. mixed) and plant pairs on total seed production of C. gronovii. We also asked an additional, similar question using three species from the genus Symphyotrichum (Asteraceae). No support for a benefit of diet mixing was detected for C. gronovii. In contrast, plant pairs (and host species associated with those host pairs) explained the vast majority of variation in plant parasite performance in every experiment. This outcome suggests that some putative host species are in fact non-hosts, while other species are susceptible hosts, and still other species are resistant to C. gronovii. Thus, our study suggests that the benefit of diet mixing seen for herbivores cannot be generalized to include this parasitic plant. While diet mixing does not increase the fitness of C. gronovii, host plant quality associated with plant defenses appears to mediate parasite success.