Table 1.
Chemical profile (mean % of each compound±CI, calculated by relating individual peak areas to the internal standard peak area, n = 4) of (1) substrate markings laid by moving H. axyridis adults in the month of the year that they were collected and (2) the reference winter extract involved in the bioassay testing the potential seasonal changes in ladybeetle sensitivity.
Figure 1.
Non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) plot.
NMDS ordination of the chemical profile of substrate markings for axis 1 (NMDS 1) and axis 2 (NMDS 2) according to the physiological state of the individuals that deposited it (stress value = 0.055). The group “aggregation” brings together the substrate markings deposited by overwintering ladybeetles, the group “outside” gathers the substrate markings deposited by ladybeetles collected outside (i.e., from plants) and finally, the group “March” corresponds to the deposits from individuals caught in March (individuals were not aggregated, but were found walking around in the vicinity of the overwintering site).
Table 2.
Results of the bioassay used to test the seasonal response of H. axyridis individuals toward substrate marking deposited by conspecifics in the same physiological state (n = 50 males; n = 50 females).
Table 3.
Results of the bioassay used to test the potential seasonal modification in H. axyridis sensitivity by evaluating the response to a reference winter extract of ladybeetles collected each month (n = 50 males; n = 50 females).
Table 4.
Results of the bioassay used to test the possible seasonal modification of the leading potential (i.e., the potential inducing a “following” response in ladybeetles) of H. axyridis substrate marking by evaluating the response of rearing ladybeetles toward the substrate marking of individuals collected each month (n = 50 males; n = 50 females).
Table 5.
Climatic conditions observed in Belgium during the experimental year (from February 2011 to January 2012) and typical monthly climatic values.