Ontogenetic shifts in behavior and host-plant preference in the tropical clown grasshopper <i>Homeomastax silvicola</i> (Orthoptera: Eumastacidae)
Bibliographic record
Abstract
SummaryMembers of the genus Homeomastax have been predicted to exhibit contrasting specialization through ontogeny, with a strong preference for fern plants during the nymphal phase. We investigated whether host-plant specificity and use differ between adults and nymphs of the tropical acridid Homeomastax silvicola (Rehn & Rehn, 1934) within a lowland Caribbean reserve in Costa Rica. Host-plant preference (Nephrolepis brownii (Desv.) Hovenkamp & Miyam. vs. other plants) was assessed by counting adults and nymphs in transects differing in N. brownii fern cover. We assessed their vertical positioning in host plants and analyzed their defensive behavior in response to a potential threat. While adults showed no preference for N. brownii, nymphs were highly associated to ferns, being five times more abundant in areas of high N. brownii cover, and 97% of them being found in that host plant. Nymphs occupy lower parts of the plant, gradually ascending to higher parts as they become adults. Notably, experiments demonstrated that nymphs had over three times less probability of escaping from threats than adults. These results suggest that ferns are crucial host plants for the feeding and protection of H. silvicola progeny, which become more generalist as they develop. We posit that describing specialization patterns in tropical fern-grasshopper systems, and ultimately measuring the drivers of these patterns, offers valuable insights into understanding intraspecific variations of interactions through ontogeny.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".