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Abstract:
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This thesis describes a relationship between maternal preference and offspring performance in a population of the butterfly Euphydryas editha that used two host plants , Pedicularis semibarbata and Collinsia torreyi from 1979 to 2001 , but now no longer uses Collinsia . In the light of the known history of diet change in this butterfly population , it is not surprising that maternal oviposition preference was variable . Although the diet of the butterflies that evolved rapidly in the 1980’s is no longer changing , I still discovered some females with a chemical preference for Collinsia . This seems to be a legacy of recent anthropogenic diet evolution . The evolution of host preference of females in Rabbit Meadow has not finished yet . Variation of offspring weight and survival were measured and showed a complex relationship with adult preference . Although quite a few adults strongly rejected Collinsia , their offspring grew well on this host , and there was no significant trend for the offspring of strongly Pedicularis -preferring butterflies to perform more poorly on Collinsia . |