The role of nutrients in the responses of water hyacinth, Eichhornia crassipes (Pontederiaceae) to herbivory by a grasshopper Cornops aquaticum Bruner (Orthoptera: Acrididae)

Environmental nutrient availability can drive and modify both plant responses to herbivory by phytophagous insects and insect feeding patterns which, in insect-weed systems, may ultimately determine whether biological control succeeds or fails. The impacts of insect biological control agents on the invasive aquatic weed, water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) vary with nutrient levels in the environment. It was therefore considered important to evaluate nutrient-specific responses of E. crassipes to a grasshopper herbivore, Cornops aquaticum, prior to its release in South Africa. Both plant productivity and the response of E. crassipes to herbivory by C. aquaticum were nutrient dependent. Increases in plant biomass and leaf and ramet production were correlated with increases in nutrients in the water and plant biomass accumulation was reduced by herbivory at all three nutrient levels tested (high = 67%; medium = 100%; low = 400%). C. aquaticum nymphs fed E. crassipes leaves with the lowest nitrogen levels produced the highest biomass of frass during their development, indicating compensatory consumption. The results suggest that environmental nutrient availability will influence efficacy of C. aquaticum. They also provide further evidence that E. crassipes problems are exacerbated by an over-abundance of nutrients in aquatic environments, and that biological control would be a highly effective management tool if aquatic systems in South Africa were less polluted. Additionally, the results also show how an understanding of the fundamental responses of E. crassipes and its insect biocontrol agents to their environment can assist in determining specific management strategies or interventions according to prevailing site-specific conditions. (C) 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.