Ecological Entomology (2015), 40, 444–450 DOI: 10.1111/een.12208 Plant-mediated effects of butterfly egg deposition on subsequent caterpillar and pupal development, across different species of wild Brassicaceae FOTEINI G. P A S H A L I D O U, 1 NINA E. F A T O U R O S, 1,2 JOOP J. A. VAN L O O N, 1 MARCEL DICKE 1 and RIETA GOLS 1 1 Laboratory of Entomology, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands and 2 Institute of Biology, Dahlem Centre of Plant Sciences, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany Abstract. 1. Herbivory can change plant quality, which may have consequences for interactions between the inducing herbivore and other insect community members. 2. Studies investigating the effects of plant quality on herbivore performance often have neglected the egg stage, and instead introduced larvae onto the plant. Recently, we reported that herbivore oviposition by Pieris brassicae (Linnaeus) (Large Cabbage White Butterfy) reduced the plant quality of Brassica nigra L. (black mustard) for subsequent herbivores. 3. It remains unclear how persistent and common these plant-mediated effects of oviposition are. Here, fve species of wild Brassicaceae were used (B. nigra L., Brassica oleracea L., Sinapis arvensis L., Moricandia arvensis L., and Moricandia moricandioides Boiss). The response to oviposition by the specialist P. brassicae was determined by following the natural sequence of events: oviposition, egg, larval, and pupal development. All tested plant species are known to interact with P. brassicae in nature. Caterpillar, pupal mass, and development time on plants exposed to butterfy eggs were assessed compared with egg-free plants. 4. It was shown that the plant-mediated effects of oviposition are not specifc for B. nigra but occur in most of the tested plant species except for M. arvensis. However, the strength of the plant-mediated effect on caterpillar growth depended on plant species. Thus, across different members of the Brassicaceae family, oviposition can infuence plant quality and has negative consequences on P. brassicae growth. Further studies are needed to assess to what extent this trait might be phylogenetically conserved. Key words. Brassicaceae, egg deposition, insect performance, specialist herbivore, variation. Introduction Plant species and populations display variation in resistance traits, which mediate interactions with their insect communi- ties (Lankau & Strauss, 2007; Gols et al., 2009). These resis- tance traits, physical or/and chemical, are classifed accord- ing to the timing of deployment into (i) traits that are consti- tutively produced and (ii) traits that are induced upon herbi- vore attack or a combination of the two (Gatehouse, 2002; Wu & Baldwin, 2010). Induced plant responses are considered to Correspondence: Foteini G. Pashalidou, Laboratory of Entomology, Wageningen University, P. O. Box 16, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands. E-mail: foteini.paschalidou@gmail.com reduce allocation costs as they are only employed when the plant is under attack (Poelman & Dicke, 2014). For many insect – plant systems, it has been shown that induced plant responses change plant quality, impairing growth and sur- vival of herbivores and hampering colonisation by subsequently arriving herbivores (Karban & Baldwin, 1997; Gols & Harvey, 2008; Howe & Jander, 2008). The term host-plant quality is used to describe the positive or negative effects of plant compounds (e.g. nitrogen, carbon levels, and defensive compounds) on her- bivore performance (Awmack & Leather, 2002). Induced plant responses can have consequences for suc- cessive interactions with herbivores and other species in the plant-associated community (van Zandt & Agrawal, 2004; 444 © 2015 The Royal Entomological Society