Natural history of butterflies and parasitoids

Open PhD position in Parasitoid Metacommunity Ecology: click here

The more we know about natural history of species, the better we can understand basic ecology and evolution. Some of the work I do is on the natural history of parasitoids and their host butterflies.

Butterflies

Kuussaari, M., van Nouhuys, S., Hellmann, J., Singer, M. C. 2004. Checkerspot butterfly larval biology. In On the Wings of Checkerspots: A Model System for Population Biology (P. R. Ehrlich & I. Hanski, eds.) Oxford University Press, pp. 138-160 PDF Reudler Talsma, J., Biere, A., Harvey, J. A., van Nouhuys, S. 2008. Oviposition cues for a specialist butterfly: plant chemistry and size. Journal of Chemical Ecology, 34: 2102-1212 PDF Reudler Talsma, J., Torri, K. van Nouhuys, S. 2008. Host plant use by the Heath fritillary butterfly, Melitaea athalia: plant habitat, species and chemistry. Arthropod-Plant Interactions, Arthropod-Plant Interactions, 2: 63-75 PDF Saastamoinen, M., van Nouhuys, S., Nieminen, M., O’Hara, B., Suomi, J. 2007. Development and survival of a specialist herbivore, Melitaea cinxia, on host plants producing high and low concentrations of iridoid glycosides. Annales Zoologici Fennici, 44: 70-80. PDF

 

Parasitoids (of butterflies):

van Nouhuys, S. & E. Punju Coexistence of competing parasitoids: which is the fugitive and where does it hide? 2009 Oikos, in press pdf

Shaw, M. R, Stefanescu, C., van Nouhuys, S. Parasitoids of European Butterflies in Ecology of Butterflies of Europe (eds. J. Settele, T. G. Shreeve, M. Konvicka & H. Van Dyck) Cambridge University Press, in press.

van Nouhuys, S., Hanski, I. 2004. Natural enemies of checkerspot butterflies. In On the Wings of Checkerspots: A Model System for Population Biology (P. R. Ehrlich & I. Hanski, eds.) Oxford University Press, pp. 161-180 PDF

Kankare, M., Stefanescu, C., van Nouhuys, S., Shaw, M. R. 2005. Host specialization by Cotesia wasps (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) parasitising species-rich Melitaeini (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) communities in north-eastern Spain. The Biological Journal of the Linnaean Society, 86: 45-65 PDF

Kankare, M., van Nouhuys, S. Hanski, I. 2005. Genetic divergence among host-specific cryptic species in Cotesia melitaearum agg., a parasitoid of checkerspot butterflies. Annals of the Entomological Society of America, 98: 382-394PDF

van Nouhuys, S, & J. Ehrnsten. 2004. Parasitoid behavior that leads to uniform parasitism of a host available only a few hours per year. Behavioral Ecology, 15: 661-665 PDF