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Smargiassi S, Masoni A, Frizzi F, Balzani P, Desiato E, Benelli G, Canale A, Santini G. Keep Your Eggs Away: Ant Presence Reduces Ceratitis capitata Oviposition Behaviour through Trait-Mediated Indirect Interactions. INSECTS 2023; 14:532. [PMID: 37367348 DOI: 10.3390/insects14060532] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2023] [Revised: 06/02/2023] [Accepted: 06/05/2023] [Indexed: 06/28/2023]
Abstract
Alternative methods to achieve sustainable agricultural production while reducing the use of chemical pesticides, such as biological control, are increasingly needed. The exploitation of trait-mediated indirect interactions (TMIIs), in which pests modify their behavior in response to some cues (e.g., pheromones and other semiochemicals) to avoid predation risk, may be a possible strategy. In this study, we tested the effect of TMIIs of two Mediterranean ant species, Crematogaster scutellaris and Tapinoma nigerrimum, on the oviposition behaviour of Ceratitis capitata (Diptera: Tephritidae), one of the world's most economically damaging pests, which attacks fruits. For each ant species, we performed choice experiments using ant-scented and control plums, counting the time spent by medflies on fruits and the number of pupae emerging from them. Results of both ant species tests showed a significantly shorter time spent by ovipositing medflies on ant-exposed plums and a lower number of pupae, when compared to the control group. Our findings highlighted that the semiochemicals released by ants on plums triggered an avoidance behaviour by medfly females, leading to lower oviposition rates. This study contributes to the understanding of indirect ant-pest interactions in Mediterranean agricultural settings and points out the potential of utilising ant-borne semiochemicals in sustainable IPM strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Alberto Masoni
- Department of Biology, University of Florence, 50121 Firenze, Italy
- National Biodiversity Future Center, 90133 Palermo, Italy
| | - Filippo Frizzi
- Department of Biology, University of Florence, 50121 Firenze, Italy
| | - Paride Balzani
- South Bohemian Research Center of Aquaculture and Biodiversity of Hydrocenoses, Faculty of Fisheries and Protection of Waters, University of South Bohemia in Ceske Budejovice, Zátiší 728/II, 389 25 Vodňany, Czech Republic
| | - Elisa Desiato
- Department of Biology, University of Florence, 50121 Firenze, Italy
| | - Giovanni Benelli
- Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Pisa, 56124 Pisa, Italy
| | - Angelo Canale
- Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Pisa, 56124 Pisa, Italy
| | - Giacomo Santini
- Department of Biology, University of Florence, 50121 Firenze, Italy
- National Biodiversity Future Center, 90133 Palermo, Italy
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Wang J, Yang Y, Li Y, Jin Z, Desneux N, Han P, Wang S, Li S. Direct and indirect effects of banker plants on population establishment of Harmonia axyridis and aphid control on pepper crop. FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE 2022; 13:1083848. [PMID: 36578339 PMCID: PMC9792147 DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2022.1083848] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/29/2022] [Accepted: 11/21/2022] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
Banker plant systems increase biological pest control by supporting populations of natural enemies, i.e., using non-pest arthropod species as alternative prey. However, the presence of alternative prey does not always result in improved control of the target pest species owing to the complexity of biotic interactions. To increase the effectiveness of banker plants in IPM programs, a fine understanding of the indirect interactions between target aphid and alternative prey mediated by biocontrol agents is necessary. In this study, we first established a banker plant system, banker plant (Vicia faba)-alternative prey (Megoura japonica)-predator (Harmonia axyridis), to control the target pest (Myzus persicae) on pepper. We found that M. japonica strongly preferred faba bean as a host plant and posed no risk to Solanaceous crops. Harmonia axyridis adults had no significant predation preference for the alternative prey. In the short term, the interaction direction of the two aphid species depended on the relative initial density and the timescale. Harmonia axyridis showed a stronger negative effect on M. persicae than that on M. japonica. In the long term, the presence of alternative prey, M. japonica, enhanced the control effect of H. axyridis to M. persicae with initial density of 100-500 aphids per plant. The presence of the alternative prey could proliferate the population of H. axyridis, with from 0.2- to 2.1-fold increase of H. axyridis eggs. Overall, we put forward a strategy for setting the initial density of alternative prey of the banker plant system to target the high and low density of aphids, which highlighted the importance of indirect interactions in designing a proper banker plant system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jie Wang
- Institute of Plant Protection, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Beijing, China
- Department of Entomology, College of Plant Protection, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China
| | - Yajie Yang
- Institute of Plant Protection, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Yuanxi Li
- Department of Entomology, College of Plant Protection, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China
| | - Zhenyu Jin
- Forewarning and Management of Agricultural and Forestry Pest, Hubei Engineering Technology Center and College of Agriculture, Yangtze University, Jingzhou, China
| | | | - Peng Han
- Yunnan Key Laboratory of Plant Reproductive Adaptation and Evolutionary Ecology /Institute of Biodiversity, School of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Yunnan University, Kunming, China
| | - Su Wang
- Institute of Plant Protection, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Shu Li
- Institute of Plant Protection, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Beijing, China
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Morris JR, Perfecto I. An aggressive nonconsumptive effect mediates pest control and multipredator interactions in a coffee agroecosystem. ECOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS : A PUBLICATION OF THE ECOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2022; 32:e2653. [PMID: 35543106 PMCID: PMC9788006 DOI: 10.1002/eap.2653] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/05/2021] [Revised: 02/15/2022] [Accepted: 02/28/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Natural pest control is an alternative to pesticide use in agriculture, and may help to curb insect declines and promote crop production. Nonconsumptive interactions in natural pest control that historically have received far less attention than consumptive interactions, may have distinct impacts on pest damage suppression and may also mediate positive multipredator interactions. Additionally, when nonconsumptive effects are driven by natural enemy aggression, variation in alternative resources for enemies may impact the strength of pest control. Here we study control of the coffee berry borer (CBB), Hypothenemus hampei, by a keystone arboreal ant species, Azteca sericeasur, which exhibits a nonconsumptive effect on CBB by throwing them off coffee plants. We conducted two experiments to investigate: (1) if the strength of this behavior is driven by spatial or temporal variability in scale insect density (an alternative resource that Azteca tends for honeydew), (2) if this behavior mediates positive interactions between Azteca and other ground-foraging ants, and (3) the effect this behavior has on the overall suppression of CBB damage in multipredator scenarios. Our behavioral experiment showed that nearly all interactions between Azteca and CBB are nonconsumptive and that this behavior occurs more frequently in the dry season and with higher densities of scale insects on coffee branches. Our multipredator experiment revealed that borers thrown off coffee plants by Azteca can survive and potentially damage other nearby plants but may be suppressed by ground-foraging ants. Although we found no non-additive effects between Azteca and ground-foraging ants on overall CBB damage, together, both species resulted in the lowest level of plant damage with the subsequent reduction in "spillover" damage caused by thrown CBB, indicating spatial complementarity between predators. These results present a unique case of natural pest control, in which damage suppression is driven almost exclusively by nonconsumptive natural enemy aggression, as opposed to consumption or prey behavioral changes. Furthermore, our results demonstrate the variability that may occur in nonconsumptive pest control interactions when natural enemy aggressive behavior is impacted by alternative resources, and also show how these nonconsumptive effects can mediate positive interactions between natural enemies to enhance overall crop damage reduction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonathan R. Morris
- School for Environment and SustainabilityUniversity of MichiganAnn ArborMichiganUSA
| | - Ivette Perfecto
- School for Environment and SustainabilityUniversity of MichiganAnn ArborMichiganUSA
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Paz Neto AA, Melo JWS, Lima DB, Gondim Junior MGC, Janssen A. Field distribution patterns of pests are asymmetrically affected by the presence of other herbivores. BULLETIN OF ENTOMOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2020; 110:611-619. [PMID: 32252842 DOI: 10.1017/s0007485320000103] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Because plant phenotypes can change in response to attacks by herbivores in highly variable ways, the distribution of herbivores depends on the occurrence of other herbivore species on the same plant. We carried out a field study to evaluate the co-occurrence of three coconut pests, the mites Aceria guerreronis (Acari: Eriophyidae), Steneotarsonemus concavuscutum (Acari: Tarsonemidae) and the moth Atheloca bondari (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae). The eriophyid mite Ac. guerreronis is the most important coconut pest around the world, whereas S. concavuscutum and At. bondari are economically important only in some areas along the Brazilian coast. A previous study suggested that the necrosis caused by Ac. guerreronis facilitates the infestation of At. bondari larvae. Because all three species infest the area under the perianths on coconuts and S. concavuscutum also causes necrosis that could facilitate At. bondari, we evaluated the co-occurrence of all three species. We found that the occurrence of At. bondari was positively associated with Ac. guerreronis, but negatively associated with S. concavuscutum. In addition, the two mite species showed negative co-occurrence. Atheloca bondari was found on nuts of all ages, but more on nuts that had fallen than on those on the trees, suggesting that nuts infested by At. bondari tend to fall more frequently. We discuss the status of At. bondari as a pest and discuss experiments to test the causes of these co-occurrence patterns.
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Affiliation(s)
- A A Paz Neto
- Departamento de Agronomia - Entomologia, Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco, Av. Dom Manoel de Medeiros s/n, Dois Irmãos, 52171-900 Recife, PE, Brazil
| | - J W S Melo
- Departamento de Fitotecnia, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza, CE, Brazil
| | - D B Lima
- Departamento de Zoologia, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil
| | - M G C Gondim Junior
- Departamento de Agronomia - Entomologia, Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco, Av. Dom Manoel de Medeiros s/n, Dois Irmãos, 52171-900 Recife, PE, Brazil
| | - A Janssen
- Evolutionary and Population Biology, IBED, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, 1098 XH Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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Multi-species suppression of herbivores through consumptive and non-consumptive effects. PLoS One 2018; 13:e0197230. [PMID: 29791456 PMCID: PMC5965886 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0197230] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/06/2017] [Accepted: 04/28/2018] [Indexed: 12/04/2022] Open
Abstract
Most studies investigating the importance of non-consumptive interactions for herbivore suppression focus on pairwise interactions between one predator and one prey, ignoring any community context. Further, the potential for non-consumptive interactions to arise between herbivores and non-enemy organisms is commonly overlooked. We investigated the relative contributions of consumptive and non-consumptive effects to aphid suppression by a wasp assemblage containing both enemies and non-enemies. We examined the suppression of two aphid species with different defensive strategies, pea aphids (Acyrthosiphon pisum), which drop from their host plant to the ground, and green peach aphids (Myzus persicae), which remain on the plant and merely walk away. The expectation was that riskier defensive behaviors, like abandoning the plant, would result in larger non-consumptive effects. We found that the outcome of multi-species interactions differed depending on the mechanism of suppression, with interference among wasps in their consumptive effects and additivity in their non-consumptive effects. We also found that, despite differences in defensive strategies, the non-consumptive effects of wasps on aphid abundance were significant for both aphid species. Furthermore, when part of a multi-species assemblage, non-enemies enhanced aphid suppression via complementary non-consumptive effects with lethal enemies, but this increase in suppression was offset by disruption in the consumptive suppression of aphids by lethal enemies. We conclude that non-consumptive effects arise from interactions with both enemy and non-enemy species and that both can contribute to herbivore suppression when part of a broader community. We predict that encouraging the presence of non-enemy organisms may provide insurance against fluctuations in the size of consumptive enemy populations and buffer against herbivore outbreaks.
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Does urbanization explain differences in interactions between an insect herbivore and its natural enemies and mutualists? Urban Ecosyst 2018. [DOI: 10.1007/s11252-017-0727-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
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Glupov VV, Kryukova NA. Physiological and biochemical aspects of interactions between insect parasitoids and their hosts. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2016. [DOI: 10.1134/s0013873816050018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
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Poelman EH, Kessler A. Keystone Herbivores and the Evolution of Plant Defenses. TRENDS IN PLANT SCIENCE 2016; 21:477-485. [PMID: 26832946 DOI: 10.1016/j.tplants.2016.01.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 58] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/24/2015] [Revised: 12/15/2015] [Accepted: 01/05/2016] [Indexed: 05/03/2023]
Abstract
Plants need to defend themselves against a diverse and dynamic herbivore community. Such communities may be shaped by keystone herbivores that through their feeding alter the plant phenotype as well as the likelihood of attack by other herbivores. Here, we discuss such herbivores that have a large effect on the interaction network structure with associated fitness consequences for the plant, as dominant agents of selection on plant defense traits. Merging the keystone herbivore concept with plant fitness and trait selection frameworks will provide an approach to identify which herbivores drive selection in complex multispecies interactions in natural and agricultural systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Erik H Poelman
- Wageningen University, Laboratory of Entomology, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
| | - André Kessler
- Cornell University, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Ithaca, NY, USA
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Maguire DY, Bennett EM, Buddle CM. Sugar maple tree canopies as reservoirs for arthropod functional diversity in forest patches across a fragmented agricultural landscape in southern Quebec, Canada. ECOSCIENCE 2016. [DOI: 10.1080/11956860.2016.1192010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
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10
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Stireman JO. Community ecology of the 'other' parasitoids. CURRENT OPINION IN INSECT SCIENCE 2016; 14:87-93. [PMID: 27436652 DOI: 10.1016/j.cois.2016.02.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/20/2015] [Accepted: 02/03/2016] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Abstract
The study of parasitoid communities is an active and dynamic field. Most studies, however, are focused primarily on parasitic wasps, despite the thousands of other insect parasitoids distributed across many lineages. Although questions in parasitoid community ecology are much the same for different groups, answers to these questions may not be due to differing biological traits. The ecology of non-hymenopteran ('NH') parasitoid communities is poorly known, but recent work indicates that habitat and host traits have strong impacts on the size and composition of these parasitoid assemblages. Recent food-web analyses indicate that host ranges vary widely within and among taxa and associations are shaped by host ecology and defenses. Evidence is also accumulating for strong 'bottom-up' and 'top-down' multi-trophic interactions between NH-parasitoids and nonadjacent trophic levels, as well as trait-mediated indirect effects on communities. Recent technical and conceptual advances in characterizing and comparing food webs, consideration of phylogenetic history, and increasing anthropogenic impacts provide many new and stimulating areas of research on parasitoid communities.
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Affiliation(s)
- John O Stireman
- Department of Biological Sciences, Wright State University, Dayton, OH, USA.
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Ramirez RA, Eubanks MD. Herbivore density mediates the indirect effect of herbivores on plants via induced resistance and apparent competition. Ecosphere 2016. [DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.1218] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
| | - Micky D. Eubanks
- Department of Entomology Texas A&M University College Station Texas 77843 USA
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