scholarly journals Innate positive chemotaxis to pollen from crops and banker plants in predaceous biological control agents: towards new field lures?

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shu Li ◽  
Xiaoling Tan ◽  
Nicolas Desneux ◽  
Giovanni Benelli ◽  
Jing Zhao ◽  
...  

Abstract Predator-prey interactions form the core of biological control of arthropod pests. Which tools can be used to monitor and collect carnivorous arthropods in natural habitats and targeted crops? Eco-friendly and effective field lures are urgently needed. In this research, we carried out olfactometer experiments assess innate positive chemotaxis to pollen of seven crop and banker plant by two important predatory biological control agents: the coccinellid Propylea japonica (Thunberg) and the anthocorid Orius sauteri (Poppius). We compared the attractiveness of pollens from crops and banker plants to that of common prey homogenates (aphids and thrips, respectively). Attractiveness of the tested odor sources was checked via field trapping experiments conducted in organic apple orchards and by release-recapture assays in organic greenhouse tomato crops. Maize and canola pollen were attractive to both P. japonica and O. sauteri, in laboratory and field assays. P. japonica was highly attracted by balm mint pollen, whereas O. sauteri was attracted by alfalfa pollen. Our results encourage the use of pollen from crops and banker plants as low-cost and eco-friendly attractors to enhance the monitoring and attraction of arthropod predators in biological control programs.

2012 ◽  
Vol 92 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guy Boivin ◽  
Thierry Hance ◽  
Jacques Brodeur

Boivin, G., Hance, T. and Brodeur, J. 2012. Aphid parasitoids in biological control. Can. J. Plant Sci. 92: 1–12. Aphids are important pests of most cultivated crops worldwide. Among the natural enemies that regulate their populations, aphid parasitoids are commonly used in biological control programs in greenhouses and field situations. They belong to the Hymenoptera (Braconidae and Aphelinidae), and a few species are Diptera (Cecidomyiidae). Aphid parasitoids are themselves exposed to a variety of natural enemies including predators, fungi and hyperparasitoids. The most important impediment to the use of aphid parasitoids as biological control agents remains the production cost to mass-rear parasitoids. Rearing either aphids or directly aphid parasitoids in artificial media could be a solution to produce large quantities of aphid parasitoids at low cost, but such an approach still faces numerous challenges related to the nutritional and physiological requirements of developing aphid parasitoids.


RSC Advances ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (99) ◽  
pp. 96573-96583 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raja Mohamed Sait Thameem Azarudeen ◽  
Marimuthu Govindarajan ◽  
Abubucker Amsath ◽  
Shine Kadaikunnan ◽  
Naiyf S. Alharbi ◽  
...  

As a low-cost and eco-friendly control tool, Ag nanoparticles were fabricated usingHedyotis puberulaaqueous extract as a reducing and capping agent and showed potent activity against malaria and arbovirus vectors with low biotoxicity against non-target aquatic organisms.


Author(s):  
Judith H. Myers

The movement of humans around the earth has been associated with an amazing redistribution of a variety of organisms to new continents and exotic islands. The natural biodiversity of native communities is threatened by new invasive species, and many of the most serious insect and weed pests are exotics. Classical biological control is one approach to dealing with nonindigenous species. If introduced species that lack natural enemies are competitively superior in exotic habitats, introducing some of their predators (herbivores), diseases, or parasitoids may reduce their population densities. Thus, the introduction of more exotic species may be necessary to reduce the competitive superiority of nonindigenous pests. The intentional introduction of insects as biological control agents provides an experimental arena in which adaptations and interactions among species may be tested. We can use biological control programs to explore such evolutionary questions as: What characteristics make a natural enemy a successful biological control agent? Does coevolution of herbivores and hosts or predators (parasitoids) and prey result in few species of natural enemies having the potential to be successful biological control agents? Do introduced natural enemies make unexpected host range shifts in new environments? Do exotic species lose their defense against specialized natural enemies after living for many generations without them? If coevolution is a common force in nature, we expect biological control interactions to demonstrate a dynamic interplay between hosts and their natural enemies. In this chapter, I consider biological control introductions to be experiments that might yield evidence on how adaptation molds the interactions between species and their natural enemies. I argue that the best biological control agents will be those to which the target hosts have not evolved resistance. Classical biological control is the movement of natural enemies from a native habitat to an exotic habitat where their host has become a pest. This approach to exotic pests has been practiced since the late 1800s, when Albert Koebele explored the native habitat of the cottony cushion scale, Icrya purchasi, in Australia and introduced Vadalia cardinalis beetles (see below) to control the cottony cushion scale on citrus in California. This control has continued to be a success.


2020 ◽  
pp. 148-165
Author(s):  
Serguei V. Triapitsyn ◽  
María B. Aguirre ◽  
Guillermo A. Logarzo ◽  
Stephen D. Hight

Identified and reviewed taxonomically are the hyperparasitoids (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea) in Argentina and Paraguay associated with Hypogeococcus spp. (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae), mealybugs that feed on various native cacti (Cactaceae) as well as some Amaranthaceae and Portulacaceae. The following genera and species were collected and reared in the course of surveys conducted in Argentina during 2010–2019 and in Paraguay during 2016–2019: Chartocerus argentinus (Brèthes) stat. rev. [reinstated as a valid species from the previous synonymy with Chartocerus niger (Ashmead)] and Chartocerus axillaris De Santis from Argentina (Signiphoridae), an undescribed Cheiloneurus sp. from Paraguay and Prochiloneurus argentinensis (De Santis) from Argentina (Encyrtidae). These are secondary parasitoids via Encyrtidae primary parasitoids of Hypogeococcus sp., candidate biological control agents against a Hypogeococcus sp. (commonly called the Harrisia cactus mealybug) that is devastating the native columnar cacti in Puerto Rico. The previously unknown male of Chartocerus argentinus is described, and a lectotype is designated for  Signiphora argentina Brèthes. Taxonomic notes are provided for Ablerus platensis (Brèthes) (Hymenoptera:Azotidae), for which a lectotype is designated (for Dimacrocerus platensis Brèthes); it is newly recorded from Paraguay. Hyperparasitoids can be detrimental to biological control programs, but their impact has often been unknown or underestimated. Taxonomic identification of the hyperparasitoids is the first step in assessing the potential negative impact to the natural control of Hypogeococcus spp. in South America.


2000 ◽  
Vol 6 (S2) ◽  
pp. 666-667
Author(s):  
E. L. Styer ◽  
J. J. Hamm

Economically important insects include pests of plants, animals and stored products as well as insects produced commercially (honey bees, silkworms, insects for fish bait and food for birds and zoo animals). Other insects are produced in large numbers for experimental purposes, biological control of insect pests and weeds and the production of sterile insects for population suppression. Insect viruses may affect morphology, physiology and behavior, often reducing longevity and reproductive potential. Thus insect viruses can be used as biological control agents of pest insects. Insect viruses may also interfere with the production or function of biological control agents (e.g., parasitoids and predators) and insects used for research purposes. Therefore, it is advantageous to screen commercial and research colonies and imported insects for viruses.Electron microscopy of negatively stained specimens (NS EM) offers a relatively rapid and inexpensive means of screening populations of insects for the presence of viruses or viruslike particles and to monitor the progress of virus control programs.


1984 ◽  
Vol 116 (8) ◽  
pp. 1109-1121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heikki Hokkanen ◽  
David Pimentel

AbstractThe success of introducing natural enemies for biological control was found to be about 75% higher employing new parasite–host (predator–prey) associations than those based on long-evolved associations between parasites and hosts. The lack of evolved interspecific balance in new species associations appears to explain the higher success rate. New exploiter–victim associations expand opportunities for the biological control of both introduced and native pests and should be used as the preferred method in selecting biological control agents.


EDIS ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
James P. Cuda ◽  
Patricia Prade ◽  
Carey R. Minteer-Killian

In the late 1970s, Brazilian peppertree, Schinus terebinthifolia Raddi (Sapindales: Anacardiaceae), was targeted for classical biological control in Florida because its invasive properties (see Host Plants) are consistent with escape from natural enemies (Williams 1954), and there are no native Schinus spp. in North America. The lack of native close relatives should minimize the risk of damage to non-target plants from introduced biological control agents (Pemberton 2000). [...]


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