Approach trajectory and solar position affect host plant attractiveness to the small white butterfly.

While it is well documented that insects exploit polarized sky light for navigation, their use of reflected polarized light for object detection has been less well studied. Recently, we have shown that the small white butterfly, Pieris rapae, distinguishes between host and non-host plants based on the degree of linear polarization (DoLP) of light reflected from their leaves. To determine how polarized light cues affect host plant foraging by female P. rapae across their entire visual range including the ultraviolet (300-650 nm), we applied photo polarimetry demonstrating large differences in the DoLP of leaf-reflected light among plant species generally and between host and non-host plants specifically. As polarized light cues are directionally dependent, we also tested, and modelled, the effect of approach trajectory on the polarization of plant-reflected light and the resulting attractiveness to P. rapae. Using photo polarimetry measurements of plants under a range of light source and observer positions, we reveal several distinct effects when polarized reflections are examined on a whole-plant basis rather than at the scale of pixels or plant canopies. Most notably from our modeling, certain approach trajectories are optimal for foraging butterflies, or insects generally, to discriminate between plant species on the basis of the DoLP of leaf-reflected light.

Polarization of foliar reflectance: novel host plant cue for insect herbivores.

Insect herbivores exploit plant cues to discern host and non-host plants. Studies of visual plant cues have focused on colour despite the inherent polarization sensitivity of insect photoreceptors and the information carried by polarization of foliar reflectance, most notably the degree of linear polarization (DoLP; 0-100%). The DoLP of foliar reflection was hypothesized to be a host plant cue for insects but was never experimentally tested. Here, we show that cabbage white butterflies, Pieris rapae (Pieridae), exploit the DoLP of foliar reflections to discriminate among plants. In experiments with paired digital plant images, P. rapae females preferred images of the host plant cabbage with a low DoLP (31%) characteristic of cabbage foliage over images of a non-host potato plant with a higher DoLP (50%). By reversing the DoLP of these images, we were able to shift the butterflies' preference for the cabbage host plant image to the potato non-host plant image, indicating that the DoLP had a greater effect on foraging decisions than the differential colour, intensity, or shape of the two plant images. Although previously not recognized, the DoLP of foliar reflection is an essential plant cue that may commonly be exploited by foraging insect herbivores.