Response of xylem-feeding leafhopper to host plant species and plant quality.

Carneocephala floridana, an oligophagous leafhopper that inhabits the salt marshes along the coasts of Florida, utilizesBorrichia frutescens andSalicornia virginica (both herbs) as primary summer hosts, but uses two grasses,Distichlis spicata andSpartina alterniflora, during the winter. We tested whether the seasonal patterns of abundance and apparent host-switching byCarneocephala are related to plant quality. In laboratory experiments, nymphs ofCarneocephala reared on nonfertilized control plants of the two herbs produced adults that were similar in size to field-collected insects. OnlyCarneocephala raised at the lowest densities onSpartina andDistichlis from the highest fertilizer treatments produced adults similar in body mass to those reared on nonfertilizedBorrichia andSalicornia. ForDistichlis, superior quality (high foliar nitrogen) plants were able to mitigate the negative effect of nymphal crowding on adult body mass. However, laboratory fertilization regimes produced an extremely high foliar nitrogen content in the two herbs and the organic acid concentration in the xylem fluid ofBorrichia, the only host species suitable for xylem fluid extraction, increased 2.5- to 3-fold. Total amino acid concentration in the xylem fluid of fertilizedBorrichia decreased compared to nonfertilized plants.Carneocephala demonstrated reduced feeding efficiencies on high nitrogenBorrichia. Our results suggest thatCarneocephala prefers, and performs better on, plants with high nitrogen content up to a threshold, beyond which high nitrogen levels result in reduced leafhopper feeding rates and assimilation efficiencies.