DOI: 10.5061/dryad.3bk3j9kk2
title: Performance data of Danaus larvae feeding on native and exotic host plants

description: The consequences of the introduction of invasive plants for the diet of
 herbivorous insects have been little explored in nature where,
 potentially, abiotic and biotic factors operate. In this study we examined
 the larval performance of two Neotropical Danaini butterflies when using
 either a native or an exotic Apocynaceae species as host plant in both
 field and laboratory experiments. Hosts greatly differ in their amount of
 latex exudation and other physicochemical traits, as well as in the amount
 of evolutionary time they have interacted with herbivores. First,
 herbivore performance on the hosts was investigated under laboratory
 conditions. Larvae of both Danaini species took more time to develop on
 the exotic host; larval survivorship did not vary between hosts. Second,
 first instar survivorship on both hosts was evaluated in two field sites,
 one site per host. To do so, in both sites half of the larvae were bagged
 (protected against both abiotic and biotic factors) while the remainder
 were non-bagged (exposed). The interaction between larval exposure with
 the use of the exotic host reduced larval survival. We concluded that the
 combined effects of host plant traits and abiotic factors reduced survival
 of herbivores in field conditions. Therefore, the performance of
 herbivores when using hosts of different origins should be considered
 together with the multiple ecological factors found in natural
 environments, as these factors can modify the result of plant-herbivore
 interactions.
description: Performance data were collected in field and
 laboratory experiments, described in detail in the main text of the
 manuscript. Larval
 survival under laboratory conditions was compared through Fisher's
 exact test between host plants and Danaini species. Larval development
 time and forewing length were analyzed for their normality and
 homoscedasticity by Shapiro-Wilk and Bartlett's tests. Forewing
 length for both Danaini species showed normal distribution and was
 compared between host plants using unpaired Student’s
 <i>t</i>-tests. Larval development time did not show normal
 distribution and was compared between host plants using the Mann-Whitney
 test. Tests were performed using GraphPad Prism 8.3.1 software.
 To examine which factors determine larval survival on host plants
 under field conditions, the variables were combined into generalized
 linear models (GLMs). Host plant species (<i>A.
 curassavica</i> or <i>C. procera</i>) and treatment
 (bagged or non-bagged) were considered as fixed variables, and larval
 survival as a response variable (with binomial distribution). We tested
 models considering the effect of each fixed variable, as well as the
 additive effect of both variables and their interaction. In order to
 determine which model best explains the results, we performed model
 selection using the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) and the “bbmle”
 package. Tests were performed in the R environment using R Studio
 software.
description: We have included a README.txt file with a caption
 for the abbreviations in the tables. In the field experiment table,
 missing values (NAs) ​​are attributed to observations missed by cattle
 grazing in the study area. In the laboratory experiment table, missing
 forewing length values ​​are assigned to larvae that did not survive
 during the larval stage. The developmental time for these larvae was
 computed but was not used to calculate the mean developmental
 time.