D3079: How attractive are tomato plants recovering from flooding stress to larval and adult herbivorous insects?

More frequent floods are expected in the future because of global warming. How plants combat stressors including insect herbivory during the post-flooding phase is important to secure crop production. Understanding the oviposition preference and growth and performance of insect herbivores on plants recovering from flooding is necessary to facilitate post-flooding pest management interventions. However, to date, studies examining post-flooding plant-insect interactions are limited. To address this knowledge gap, we investigated oviposition behavior and preference of female S. exigua (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) when given a choice between non-flooded and plants recovering from flooding. We further determined the role of leaf metabolites and headspace volatile organic compounds in explaining differential preference and larval growth and performance. Results reveal that.....(need to be updated). Taken Together, results from this study highlight the importance of understanding post-flooding plant-insect interactions.