Checking billy barr’s snow log…
Pieris macdunnoughii, a montane butterfly species, experiences an evolutionary trap as a result of the introduction of the invasive mustard species Thlaspi arvense. T. arvense produces similar oviposition stimulants as Pieris’s native host plants. Caterpillars that hatch may slowly eat the plant but do not survive to pupation. A strange phenomenon has been observed that drought stress of Thlaspi allows Pieris larvae to eat the plant. In this experiment I measured the development of P. macdunnoughii on T. arvense plants experiencing different watering treatments. Analysis revealed that the effect of drought on native and non-native host plants had opposite effects. Drought alters the number of days lived for some larvae on T. arvense, but ultimately it does not free them from their evolutionary trap. With climate change P. macdunnoughii’s relationship with their native and non-native host plants may continue to change.
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