Cross-Attraction between an Exotic and a Native Pine Bark Beetle: A Novel Invasion Mechanism?

Aside from the ecological impacts, invasive species fascinate ecologists because of the unique opportunities that invasives offer in the study of community ecology. Some hypotheses have been proposed to illustrate the mechanisms that allow exotics to become invasive. However, positive interactions between exotic and native insects are rarely utilized to explain invasiveness of pests.Here, we present information on a recently formed association between a native and an exotic bark beetle on their shared host, Pinus tabuliformis, in China. In field examinations, we found that 35-40% of P. tabuliformis attacked by an exotic bark beetle, Dendroctonus valens, were also attacked by a native pine bark beetle, Hylastes parallelus. In the laboratory, we found that the antennal and walking responses of H. parallelus to host- and beetle-produced compounds were similar to those of the exotic D. valens in China. In addition, D. valens was attracted to volatiles produced by the native H. parallelus.We report, for the first time, facilitation between an exotic and a native bark beetle seems to involve overlap in the use of host attractants and pheromones, which is cross-attraction. The concept of this interspecific facilitation could be explored as a novel invasive mechanism which helps explain invasiveness of not only exotic bark beetles but also other introduced pests in principle. The results reported here also have particularly important implications for risk assessments and management strategies for invasive species

High Hemocyte Load Is Associated with Increased Resistance against Parasitoids in Drosophila suzukii, a Relative of D. melanogaster

Among the most common parasites of Drosophila in nature are parasitoid wasps, which lay their eggs in fly larvae and pupae. D. melanogaster larvae can mount a cellular immune response against wasp eggs, but female wasps inject venom along with their eggs to block this immune response. Genetic variation in flies for immune resistance against wasps and genetic variation in wasps for virulence against flies largely determines the outcome of any fly-wasp interaction. Interestingly, up to 90% of the variation in fly resistance against wasp parasitism has been linked to a very simple mechanism: flies with increased constitutive blood cell (hemocyte) production are more resistant. However, this relationship has not been tested for Drosophila hosts outside of the melanogaster subgroup, nor has it been tested across a diversity of parasitoid wasp species and strains. We compared hemocyte levels in two fly species from different subgroups, D. melanogaster and D. suzukii, and found that D. suzukii constitutively produces up to five times more hemocytes than D. melanogaster. Using a panel of 24 parasitoid wasp strains representing fifteen species, four families, and multiple virulence strategies, we found that D. suzukii was significantly more resistant to wasp parasitism than D. melanogaster. Thus, our data suggest that the relationship between hemocyte production and wasp resistance is general. However, at least one sympatric wasp species was a highly successful infector of D. suzukii, suggesting specialists can overcome the general resistance afforded to hosts by excessive hemocyte production. Given that D. suzukii is an emerging agricultural pest, identification of the few parasitoid wasps that successfully infect D. suzukii may have value for biocontrol

Parasitoid competitive displacement and coexistence in citrus agroecosystems: linking species distribution with climate

[EN] The introduced parasitoid wasp Aphytis melinus, the most widespread natural enemy of the California red scale (Aonidiella aurantii) and the superior competitor, has displaced the native Aphytis chrysomphali from most citrus areas of the Mediterranean basin and other citrus areas all over the world. However, our extensive survey data on the scale parasitoid populations collected in 2004–2008 show that in large citrus areas of eastern Spain both parasitoids coexist. Using field data from 179 orchards spatially divided in five citrusproducing agroecosystems, we examined the mechanisms that could explain displacement or coexistence between both Aphytis species in relation to weather conditions. The distribution and abundance of the parasitoid species are related to the mean summer and winter temperatures and relative humidity of each ecosystem. The relative proportion of A. melinus is higher during the warm months, and the abundance of A. chrysomphali increases from south to north, being higher in the cooler northern areas. Aphytis melinus has displaced A. chrysomphali from hot and dry areas, whereas regions with mild summer temperatures and moderate relative humidity present the optimal conditions for the coexistence of the two parasitoids. The more negative effects of winter temperatures on A. melinus allow the earlier use of the available host resource in late winter and spring by A. chrysomphali and the coexistence of both parasitoids in the same orchard via temporal niche partitioning. We combine previous literature on the behavior of Aphytis species in the laboratory under different temperature and humidity conditions with our field results to confirm the role of spatiotemporal weather conditions and seasonal changes in host stages on the variation of Aphytis relative abundance and parasitoid coexistence.We thank Eugenia Rodrigo of the Ecosistemas Agroforestales Department of the Valencia Polytechnic University (Spain) for her help with Aphytis identification, Robert Luck from the University of California ( USA) for information on the sex ratio, and Alejandro Tena and Rosa Vercher from the Instituto Agroforestal Mediterraneo (Valencia, Spain), Maria Jesus Verdu (Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Agrarias, Spain), Jacques Van Alphen and Joan van Baaren from the ECOBIO Institute (Rennes, France) for their recommendations and critical review. Special thanks to all the Citrus Phytosanitary Survey staff for the field trap samples and the two anonymous reviewers who provided helpful comments on the manuscript. English corrections were carried out by Centro de Lenguas of the Valencia Polytechnic University. This work was supported by the AGL2005-07155-C03-03 project of the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science.Sorribas Mellado, JJ.; Rodríguez, R.; García Mari, F. (2010). Parasitoid competitive displacement and coexistence in citrus agroecosystems: linking species distribution with climate. Ecological Applications. 4(20):1101-1104. https://doi.org/10.1890/09-1662.1S1101110442

Larval parasitoids and pathogens of the groundnut leaf miner, Aproaerema modicella (Lep.: Gelechiidae), in India

Natural enemies of the groundnut leaf miner,Aproaerema modicella (Deventer), were studied at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) located near Hyderabad in peninsular India. Hymenopterous parasitoids attacking leaf miner larvae were the most important group of natural enemies. Nine primary and eight secondary parasitoids emerged from host larvae, and killed up to 50% of the leaf miner larvae sampled. The trophic relationships between primary and secondary parasitoids are incompletely understood. The influence of pathogens of this species is reported for the first time. These pathogens killed up to 30% of the leaf miner larvae. The combined effects of all mortality agents killed up to 95% of the leaf miner larvae per sample period. However, use of insecticides in sprayed plots reduced the efficacy of parasitoids. The impact of predators on larval populations was not studied and may explain underestimates of leaf miner mortality rate