35 research outputs found

    Lessons learned: rearing the crown-boring weevil, Ceutorhynchus scrobicollis (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), in containment for biological control of garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata)

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    In this paper, we describe lessons learned and protocols developed after a decade of rearing Ceutorhynchus scrobicollis Nerenscheimer and Wagner in a Biosafety Level 2 containment facility. We have developed these protocols in anticipation of approval to release C. scrobicollis in North America for the biocontrol of garlic mustard. The rearing protocol tried to minimize the potential of attack by the adult parasitoid, Perilitus conseutor, which may be present in field collected C. scrobicollis from Europe to prevent inadvertent introduction of parasitoids into North America. All C. scrobicollis used for our quarantine rearing were field collected near Berlin, Germany. We have successfully reared C. scrobicollis on caged garlic mustard plants in a growth chamber by alternating temperatures and photoperiods to simulate those in its native range. In Germany, C. scrobicollis produces one generation per year and F1 adults emerge in late May. In containment, a new generation of adults emerged an average of 108 days after adults were placed on plants. We found the optimal time spent to collect F1 adults was four weeks after the appearance of the first F1 adult, with 95% of potential adults collected. Simulating a three-month summer aestivation period, followed by a week of fall, and three weeks of winter conditions resulted in optimum levels of oviposition in F1 females. Larvae first hatched 8- to-10 days after adults were placed on plants at 15/14 C day/night temperatures with a 9.5 hour photoperiod. We therefore recommend that C. scrobicollis adults are removed from garlic mustard rosettes after 8 days. This will maximize the period of female oviposition while minimizing the time when larvae are available for attack from P. conseutor

    Two Shoot-Miners, Ceutorhynchus alliariae and Ceutorhynchus roberti, Sharing the Same Fundamental Niche on Garlic Mustard

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    A combination of observational and experimental methods, in both the laboratory and field, were used to assess niche partitioning between Ceutorhynchus alliariae Brisout and C. roberti Gyllenhal (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), two coexisting shoot-boring weevils on garlic mustard, Alliaria petiolata (M. Bieb.) Cavara and Grande (Brassicaceae). We compared their morphology, oviposition behavior, larval development, distribution, abundance, and attack rates in their sympatric range, and of C. alliariae when found alone and in sympatry with C. roberti. Results indicate only very small differences in the fundamental niches of the two species. Comparison of C. alliariae in the range it occurs alone with the range where it co-occurs with C. roberti revealed some evidence for competition between the two species, i.e., attack levels of C. alliariae were reduced in areas where it co-occurred with C. roberti. However, the study showed no character displacement in regard to adult size or shoot choice of C. alliariae and we found no indication for superiority of either of the two species. Clearly, manipulative experiments would be necessary to unambiguously test for competition between the two species. Our results, based on a subset of niche dimensions known to be important in other systems, suggest that C. alliariae and C. roberti may present one of the rare cases, in which niche differentiation is not the main mechanism underlying coexistenc

    Lessons learned: rearing the crown-boring weevil, Ceutorhynchus scrobicollis (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), in containment for biological control of garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata)

    Get PDF
    In this paper, we describe lessons learned and protocols developed after a decade of rearing Ceutorhynchus scrobicollis Nerenscheimer and Wagner in a Biosafety Level 2 containment facility. We have developed these protocols in anticipation of approval to release C. scrobicollis in North America for the biocontrol of garlic mustard. The rearing protocol tried to minimize the potential of attack by the adult parasitoid, Perilitus conseutor, which may be present in field collected C. scrobicollis from Europe to prevent inadvertent introduction of parasitoids into North America. All C. scrobicollis used for our quarantine rearing were field collected near Berlin, Germany. We have successfully reared C. scrobicollis on caged garlic mustard plants in a growth chamber by alternating temperatures and photoperiods to simulate those in its native range. In Germany, C. scrobicollis produces one generation per year and F1 adults emerge in late May. In containment, a new generation of adults emerged an average of 108 days after adults were placed on plants. We found the optimal time spent to collect F1 adults was four weeks after the appearance of the first F1 adult, with 95% of potential adults collected. Simulating a three-month summer aestivation period, followed by a week of fall, and three weeks of winter conditions resulted in optimum levels of oviposition in F1 females. Larvae first hatched 8- to-10 days after adults were placed on plants at 15/14 C day/night temperatures with a 9.5 hour photoperiod. We therefore recommend that C. scrobicollis adults are removed from garlic mustard rosettes after 8 days. This will maximize the period of female oviposition while minimizing the time when larvae are available for attack from P. conseutor

    Biological invasion of oxeye daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare) in North America: Pre-adaptation, post-introduction evolution, or both?

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    Species may become invasive after introduction to a new range because phenotypic traits pre-adapt them to spread and become dominant. In addition, adaptation to novel selection pressures in the introduced range may further increase their potential to become invasive. The diploid Leucanthemum vulgare and the tetraploid L. ircutianum are native to Eurasia and have been introduced to North America, but only L. vulgare has become invasive. To investigate whether phenotypic differences between the two species in Eurasia could explain the higher abundance of L. vulgare in North America and whether rapid evolution in the introduced range may have contributed to its invasion success, we grew 20 L. vulgare and 21 L. ircutianum populations from Eurasia and 21 L. vulgare populations from North America under standardized conditions and recorded performance and functional traits. In addition, we recorded morphological traits to investigate whether the two closely related species can be clearly distinguished by morphological means and to what extent morphological traits have changed in L. vulgare post-introduction. We found pronounced phenotypic differences between L. vulgare and L. ircutianum from the native range as well as between L. vulgare from the native and introduced ranges. The two species differed significantly in morphology but only moderately in functional or performance traits that could have explained the higher invasion success of L. vulgare in North America. In contrast, leaf morphology was similar between L. vulgare from the native and introduced range, but plants from North America flowered later, were larger and had more and larger flower heads than those from Eurasia. In summary, we found litte evidence that specific traits of L. vulgare may have pre-adapted this species to become more invasive than L. ircutianum, but our results indicate that rapid evolution in the introduced range likely contributed to the invasion success of L. vulgare

    Can enemy release explain the invasion success of the diploid Leucanthemum vulgare in North America?

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    Enemy release is a commonly accepted mechanism to explain plant invasions. Both the diploid Leucanthemum vulgare and the morphologically very similar tetraploid Leucanthemum ircutianum have been introduced into North America. To verify which species is more prevalent in North America we sampled 98 Leucanthemum populations and determined their ploidy level. Although polyploidy has repeatedly been proposed to be associated with increased invasiveness in plants, only two of the populations surveyed in North America were the tetraploid L. ircutianum. We tested the enemy release hypothesis by first comparing 20 populations of L. vulgare and 27 populations of L. ircutianum in their native range in Europe, and then comparing the European L. vulgare populations with 31 L. vulgare populations sampled in North America. Characteristics of the site and associated vegetation, plant performance and invertebrate herbivory were recorded. In Europe, plant height and density of the two species were similar but L. vulgare produced more flower heads than L. ircutianum. Leucanthemum vulgare in North America was 17 % taller, produced twice as many flower heads and grew much denser compared to L. vulgare in Europe. Attack rates by root- and leaf-feeding herbivores on L. vulgare in Europe (34 and 75 %) was comparable to that on L. ircutianum (26 and 71 %) but higher than that on L. vulgare in North America (10 and 3 %). However, herbivore load and leaf damage were low in Europe. Cover and height of the co-occurring vegetation was higher in L. vulgare populations in the native than in the introduced range, suggesting that a shift in plant competition may more easily explain the invasion success of L. vulgare than escape from herbivory

    Ploidy level in the genus Leucanthemum correlates with resistance to a specialist herbivore

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    Polyploidy is considered to be a major source of genetic diversity in plants. Genome duplication has been shown repeatedly to be associated with changes in biotic interactions, but little is known about whether species traits such as herbivore resistance consistently change with increasing ploidy level among closely related plant species. We tested whether larval survival and performance of the specialist root- mining moth Dichrorampha aeratana are influenced by the ploidy level of plant species in the genus Leucanthemum by experimentally infesting 16 different taxa with ploidy levels ranging from diploid to dodecaploid. We found that survival of D. aeratana larvae consistently decreased with increasing ploidy level, irrespective of whether phylogenetic distance among taxa was taken into account or not. The mass of larvae and the proportion of adults emerging from last-instar larvae, however, did not consistently change with increasing ploidy level. Root biomass and dry matter content of the Leucanthemum taxa were neither correlated with ploidy level nor correlated with survival or mass of D. aeratana larvae. In summary, our results provide evidence that in the genus Leucanthemum, resistance to the specialist root herbivore D. aeratana consistently increases with increasing plant ploidy level, but it remains unclear which characteristics associated with polyploidy account for the higher herbivore resistance

    Two Shoot-Miners, Ceutorhynchus alliariae

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    Field Assessment of the Host Range of Aculus mosoniensis (Acari: Eriophyidae), a Biological Control Agent of the Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus altissima)

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    Tree of heaven (Ailanthus altissima) is a fast-growing deciduous tree native to China, considered a serious invasive species worldwide, with several socio-economic and ecological impacts attributed to it. Chemical and mechanical methods have limited efficacy in its management, and biological controls may offer a suitable and sustainable option. Aculus mosoniensis (Ripka) is an eriophyid mite that has been recorded to attack tree of heaven in 13 European countries. This study aims to explore the host range of this mite by exposing 13 plant species, selected either for their phylogenetic and ecological similarity to the target weed or their economic importance. Shortly after inoculation with the mite, we recorded a quick decrease in mite number on all nontarget species and no sign of mite reproduction. Whereas, after just one month, the population of mites on tree of heaven numbered in the thousands, irrespective of the starting population, and included both adults and juveniles. Significantly, we observed evidence of damage due to the mite only on target plants. Due to the specificity, strong impact on the target, and the ability to increase its population to high levels in a relatively short amount of time, we find A. mosoniensis to be a very promising candidate for the biological control of tree of heaven

    Two shoot-Miners, Ceutorhynchus alliariae and Ceutorhynchus roberti, sharing the same fundamental niche on garlic mustard

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    A combination of observational and experimental methods, in both the laboratory and field, were used to assess niche partitioning between Ceutorhynchus alliariae Brisout and C. roberti Gyllenhal (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), two coexisting shoot-boring weevils on garlic mustard, Alliaria petiolata (M. Bieb.) Cavara and Grande (Brassicaceae). We compared their morphology, oviposition behavior, larval development, distribution, abundance, and attack rates in their sympatric range, and of C. alliariae when found alone and in sympatry with C. roberti. Results indicate only very small differences in the fundamental niches of the two species. Comparison of C. alliariae in the range it occurs alone with the range where it co-occurs with C. roberti revealed some evidence for competition between the two species, i.e., attack levels of C. alliariae were reduced in areas where it co-occurred with C. roberti. However, the study showed no character displacement in regard to adult size or shoot choice of C. alliariae and we found no indication for superiority of either of the two species. Clearly, manipulative experiments would be necessary to unambiguously test for competition between the two species. Our results, based on a subset of niche dimensions known to be important in other systems, suggest that C. alliariae and C. roberti may present one of the rare cases, in which niche differentiation is not the main mechanism underlying coexistence
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