With further climate change still expected, it is predicted to increase the frequency with plants will be water stressed, which subsequently influences phytophagous insects, particularly Lepidoptera with limited mobility of larvae. Previous studies have indicated that oviposition preference and offspring performance of Lepidoptera insects are sensitive to drought separately. However, the integration of their two properties is not always seen. Here, we evaluated changes in oviposition selection and offspring fitness of a Lepidoptera insect under three water-stressed treatments using a model agroecosystem consisting of maize Zea mays, and Asian corn borer Ostrinia furnacalis. Results found that female O. furnacalis preferred to laying their eggs on well-watered maize, and then their offspring tended to survive better, attained bigger larvae mass, and developed more pupae and adults on the preferred maize. Oviposition selection of O. furnacalis positively correlated with height and leaf traits of maize, and offspring fitness positively related with water content and phytochemical traits of hosts. Overall, these results suggest that oviposition choice performed by O. furnacalis reflects the maximization of offspring fitness, supporting preference–performance hypothesis. This finding further highlights that the importance of simultaneous evaluation of performance and performance for water driving forces should be involved, in order to accurately predict population size of O. furnacalis under altered precipitation pattern.

中文翻译：

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缺水对昆虫草食性亚洲玉米螟偏好和性能的影响

随着气候的进一步变化，预计植物将面临水分胁迫的频率会增加，这随后会影响植食性昆虫，尤其是幼虫活动受限的鳞翅目。以往的研究表明，鳞翅目昆虫的产卵偏好和后代表现分别对干旱敏感。然而，它们的两个属性的整合并不总是被看到。在这里，我们使用由玉米组成的模型农业生态系统评估了在三种水分胁迫处理下鳞翅目昆虫产卵选择和后代适应性的变化玉米, 和亚洲玉米螟玉米螟. 结果发现，女性O. furnacalis更喜欢在浇水充足的玉米上产卵，然后它们的后代往往会更好地生存，获得更大的幼虫质量，并在首选的玉米上发育出更多的蛹和成虫。产卵选择O. furnacalis与玉米的高度和叶片性状呈正相关，子代适应性与宿主的含水量和植物化学性状呈正相关。总体而言，这些结果表明产卵选择由O. furnacalis反映了后代适应度的最大化，支持偏好-表现假设。这一发现进一步强调了同时评估性能和水驱动力性能的重要性，以便准确预测O. furnacalis在降水模式改变的情况下。