Climate change has resulted in shorter periods of snow cover in alpine meadows, increasing the duration of UV exposure. We established the relationship between increased exposure to UV light and anthocyanin pigment levels in host plant Sedum lanceolatum and tested whether increased exposure changed the feeding behavior of its herbivore Parnassius smintheus. Anthocyanin concentrations were significantly greater in plants exposed to UV. Under field conditions, we found a preference of P. smintheus caterpillars for plants with slightly above average levels of anthocyanin; however, no-choice feeding experiments in which larvae ranging from 1 to 3 days old were placed on UV-rich and UV-low plants showed no difference in feeding. These results indicate that the reduction of snow cover in alpine meadows will change the pigment profile of plants, but these changes may have little effect on herbivory.

中文翻译：

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紫外线诱导寄主植物景天中的花青素对幼虫Parnassius smintheus的摄食影响很小

气候变化导致高山草甸积雪的时间缩短，增加了紫外线照射的持续时间。我们建立了寄主植物景天的紫外线照射量与花青素色素水平之间的关系，并测试了增加的照射量是否会改变其草食性食螨（Parnassius smintheus）的摄食行为。在暴露于紫外线的植物中，花色苷浓度明显更高。在田间条件下，我们发现了对P. smintheus的偏爱花青素含量略高于平均水平的植物的毛毛虫；然而，在其中选择1至3天大的幼虫放在富含紫外线和紫外线较低的植物上的无选择饲喂实验表明，饲喂没有差异。这些结果表明，高寒草甸积雪的减少将改变植物的色素分布，但这些改变对草食性的影响很小。