that eggs deposited for 72 hr elicited and even more significantly stronger response and

suggested that substances associated with egg deposition could have diffused into the leaf tissue

or the leaf s wax layer, triggering a chemical response by the leaf. This chemical, in turn, would

at very least arrest, and possibly attract parasitoids. In my experiment, eggs were left on the

plant for no more than 24 hr, which may not have been enough time for synergistic effects

between the plant and the egg to attract parasitoids. The reason that eggs were removed daily

was to prevent oviposition competition in the oviposition study. Research has suggested that

gravid females may pass up suitable host plants due to the presence of conspecific eggs (Rausher

1979b, Rothschild 1977).

 The second problem is that the plants were spaced, from a parasitoid's perspective,

relatively far apart from each other. This prevented parasitoids from dispersing by means of

walking and jumping, which is a vital means of locomotion for butterfly parasitoids (Pak et al.

1985). While nurseries inside the farm epicenter provided for high connectivity between host

plants, the 10-meter spacing used in the experiment provided relatively no connectivity. Gmngras

and Boivin (2002) stated that connectivity between host plants and host plant parts best explains

variability in parasitism rates.

 Due to these reasons, it is likely that parasitoid presence is concentrated to areas within

the farm epicenter. Areas in which eggs are left on host plants for greater than 48 hrs, as well as

high levels of plant connectivity and homogeneity, are likely to present ideal habitats for

populations of egg parasitoids, thus, there was little need for them to disperse to the outer areas

of the farm (Lukianchus & Smith 1997). It would be beneficial to conduct further studies from

within the farm epicenter and select specific habitats and specific groups of plants rather than the

entire farm, as was done in this experiment.