DOI: 10.5061/dryad.1gk77
title: Data from: Phytophagous insect oviposition shifts in response to probability of flower abortion owing to the presence of basal fruits

description: Phytophagous insects use a wide-range of indicators or associated cues to
 avoid laying eggs in sites where offspring survival is low. For insects
 that lay eggs in flowers, these unsuitable sites may be created by the
 host plant’s resource allocation to flowers. In the sequentially flowering
 host plant, Yucca glauca, late-opening distal flowers are more likely to
 be aborted in the presence of already-initiated basal fruits because they
 are strong resource sinks. If flowers are aborted, all eggs of the
 phytophagous insect, Tegeticula yuccasella, within the flower die. We used
 the phytophagous insect T. yuccasella that lays eggs in and pollinates
 host plant Y. glauca flowers to test the hypothesis that phytophagous
 insect females are less likely to invest eggs in host plant flowers if
 basal fruits are present because they are more likely to be aborted. We
 also investigated potential predictors of arrival of T. yuccasella at
 inflorescences at the onset of flowering. These factors may influence a
 phytophagous insect’s decisions to select oviposition sites. We carried
 out a behavioral experiment using wild-caught T. yuccasella females on
 manipulated inflorescences with distal flowers with basal fruits and
 without fruits. As potential predictors of T. yuccasella arriving at
 inflorescences we used floral display size and day of onset of flowering.
 In support of our hypothesis, our experimental results showed that T.
 yuccasella was significantly less likely to oviposit in distal flowers on
 inflorescences with basal fruits. We also found that T. yuccasella arrival
 was higher at inflorescences with larger floral display size and earlier
 in the flowering season. These findings uncover a novel indicator of
 unsuitable oviposition sites – presence of basal fruits, that phytophagous
 insects use to make oviposition decisions. Further, our study contributes
 to the growing body of evidence that shows that females prefer sites that
 increase the probability of survival of their offspring.
description: Oviposition in response
 to presence of basal fruitsThis file contains
 processed data of oviposition events of Tegeticula yuccasella in response
 to presence or absence of basal fruits in experimental trials. Results
 from this dataset are reported in the section “Oviposition in response to
 presence of basal fruits”, Figure 2ab, and Tables S1-S5 of the article.
 The dataset also includes variables associated with the experiment in
 addition to those used in the article. See the README file for more
 details.oviposition_exp_ovipositionrows.csvLarval emergence in response to the presence of basal fruitsThis file contains processed data of larval emergence from fruits of naturally-pollinated inflorescences. This dataset was used for results reported in the section “Larval emergence in response to the presence of basal fruits”, Figure 3abc, and Table S6. The dataset includes data from fruits/flowers from all positions on the inflorescences. See the README file for more details.larvae_all_pos.csvEclosion of lab-reared Tegeticula spp.This file contains data of eclosion of yucca moths from lab-reared larvae. This dataset was used for results reported in the section “Larval emergence in response to the presence of basal fruits”. See the README file for more details.yucca_moth_eclosion.csvPredictors of moth arrival at onset of floweringThis file contains processed data of moth arrival at inflorescences at onset of flowering. This dataset was used for results reported in the section “Predictors of T. yuccasella arrival at onset of flowering”, Figures 4ab-5ab, Tables S7-S12, and Appendix S3. The dataset also includes variables associated with the inflorescences and moth arrival in addition to those used in the article. See the README file for more details.moth_arrival.csvIBM code for moth oviposition in response to basal fruitsThis R script contains the code for the Individual Based Model in Appendix 2 of the article. The model was developed to support our prediction that with increasing number of basal fruits fewer yucca moth larvae will emerge from distal fruits because of fewer ovipositions in those flowers with increasing number of basal fruits.IBM_Tegeticula yuccasella oviposition in response to basal fruits_R script.R