Host plant age and population development of a cereal aphid, Metopolophium dirhodum (Hemiptera: Aphididae)

2004 ◽  
Vol 94 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Honek ◽  
Z. Martinkova

AbstractThe sudden decline following the peak in population abundance of aphids on crops of small grain cereals is attributed to the joint effect of natural enemies and plant senescence. To distinguish between these causes, a four year experiment was established in which the numbers of Metopolophium dirhodum (Walker) infesting spring wheat plots sown from April to June at c. 14 day intervals were determined. Aphid abundance in replicates sown at successive dates peaked within a period of 5–9 days (106–171 day degrees above a base temperature of 0°C) although their sowing dates varied by 62–97 days (727–1106 day degrees). At the time of the aphid population peaks, plants in the different sowings differed in age (11–99 days), developmental stage (stage 15–65 on the Zadoks scale), leaf nitrogen content and shoot mass. Maximum abundance of M. dirhodum decreased with sowing date because the time available for its population increase was shorter on late than early sowings. The abundance of M. dirhodum on spring wheat was similar to its abundance on winter wheat. After reaching peak abundance, aphids declined in numbers within 3–7 days. The effect of host plant ageing on the M. dirhodumdecline thus appeared small. Natural enemies (largely mycoses), and timing of alata production may have contributed to the aphid decline.

1984 ◽  
Vol 74 (3) ◽  
pp. 387-398 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan M. Dewar ◽  
Nick Carter

AbstractRecent studies on the ecology of two cereal aphid species, Sitobion avenae (F.) and Metopolophium dirhodum (Wlk.), are reviewed. The most important factors affecting their abundance were used to construct decision trees to assess the risk of outbreaks of these species in the summer in England. These factors for S. avenae were crop sowing date, the size of the autumn migration, the severity of the winter, the size of the spring migration and the incidence of natural enemies in spring and early summer. For M. dirhodum, only the last two factors were considered as it does not occur on cereals until the spring in England. These decision trees were successfully tested using field data from 1983, when no outbreaks of either species occurred due to the effects of natural enemies.


2011 ◽  
Vol 39 (No. 2) ◽  
pp. 61-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. Jarošík ◽  
A. Honěk ◽  
A. Tichopád

Population growths of three aphid species colonising winter wheat stands, Metopolophium dirhodum, Rhopalosiphum padi and Sitobion avenae, were analysed by regression method. The calculations were based on counts in 268 winter wheat plots at 3 or 7 day intervals over 10 (leaves) or 6 (ears) years. The population dynamics of a particular species differed widely between years. Density independent exponential growth of the population was most common, but its rate differed significantly between species, and for S. avenae also between populations on leaves and ears, on which the populations grew fastest. Field estimates of the intrinsic rate of increase derived from the exponential growths ranged between 0.010–0.026 in M. dirhodum, 0.0071–0.011 in R. padi, and between 0.00078–0.0061 and 0.0015–0.13 in S. avenae on leaves and ears, respectively. In the populations with the most vigorous population growth, S. avenae on ears and M. dirhodum on leaves, the rate of population increase significantly decreased with increasing aphid density.  


1987 ◽  
Vol 77 (4) ◽  
pp. 677-682 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nick Carter

AbstractThe effect on aphid population development of creating natural enemy refuges by spraying only alternate strips of winter wheat with the aphid-specific insecticide pirimicarb at 140 g a.i./ha was compared with those in an unsprayed and a completely sprayed block in south-eastern England. The numbers of Sitobion avenae (F.), Metopolophium dirhodum (Walker) and Rhopalosiphum padi (L.) increased rapidly in the unsprayed block and in the unsprayed strips to reach similar peak densities in early August. Natural enemy activity was similar in these two areas, indicating negligible movement of predators and parasitoids from the sprayed strips to the unsprayed strips. Instead, aphids re-colonized the sprayed strips more quickly than the sprayed block, and the peak density in the former was similar to those in the unsprayed areas.


1991 ◽  
Vol 81 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Honěk

AbstractFrom 1986 to 1989, the factors that determined the abundance of Metopolophium dirhodum (Walker) on cereals were studied in western Czechoslovakia. Forty seven sites were selected within cereal fields, mainly of winter wheat. Host plant size and leaf area varied between sites. The maximum abundance of M. dirhodum per tiller varied annually and with host plant stature. The main factor determining maximum abundance was the length of time for which the aphid population grew. M. dirhodum populations differed both in the time of the onset and termination of their growth. On stunted plants population growth started, with little variation, 200 day degrees later than on well developed plants. Within years, nearly all populations ceased growing simultaneously. In years of low or medium aphid abundance it was 40 to 90 day degrees earlier than in aphid outbreak years, and this extension of the population growth was the principal cause of the outbreak. Population growth rates varied slightly with plant quality and differed little between years. They were not important factors determining maximum abundances. 55–75% of the aphids occupied the flag leaves. The lower leaves of well developed plants were more heavily populated than nutritionally and water stressed smaller plants. The population growth rates on particular leaves were related to leaf nitrogen content, but not water content. A relationship for calculating the maximum abundances from a census made during the middle phase of population growth was proposed.


1980 ◽  
Vol 70 (3) ◽  
pp. 407-409 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Powell

AbstractSixty-seven per cent of parasitoid mummies which developed from Metopolophium dirhodum (Wlk.) collected in wheat fields at Rothamsted, southern England, in 1979 were of Toxares deltiger (Hal.), a species previously unrecorded from cereal aphids. T. deltiger formed only 1% of samples when parasitoid mummies were collected directly from cereals in the field. Laboratory observations of the parasitoid indicate that affected aphids probably leave the host-plant prior to death and mummy formation.


2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 1275-1283 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Doury ◽  
J. Pottier ◽  
A. Ameline ◽  
A. Mennerat ◽  
F. Dubois ◽  
...  

2007 ◽  
Vol 139 (6) ◽  
pp. 850-863 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel M. Migui ◽  
Robert J. Lamb

AbstractThe susceptibilities of genetically diverse Canadian spring wheats, Triticum aestivum L. and Triticum durum Desf., to three aphid species, Rhopalosiphum padi (L.), Sitobion avenae (Fabricius), and Schizaphis graminum (Rondani), were investigated. Trophic interactions measured as changes in biomass of aphids and wheat plants were used to quantify levels of resistance, components of resistance, and impact of aphids on yield. Plants in field cages were infested with small numbers of aphids for 21 days at heading. These plants were usually more suitable for the development of S. avenae and S. graminum than of R. padi. Partial resistance, measured as seed production by infested plants as a proportion of that by a control, varied from 11% to 59% for different aphid species and wheat classes when all wheat plants were infested at the same stage. Cultivars within wheat classes responded similarly to each of the aphid species. None of the wheat cultivars showed agriculturally effective levels of antibiosis. The specific impact of each aphid species and wheat class varied from 5 to 15 mg of plant biomass lost for each milligram of biomass gained by the aphids. Canadian Western Red Spring wheat had a lower specific impact and therefore was more tolerant to aphids than the other two classes, but not tolerant enough to avoid economic damage at the aphid densities observed. Plants did not compensate for feeding damage after aphid feeding ceased, based on the higher specific impacts observed for mature plants than for plants that were heading. The interactions between aphids and plants show that current economic thresholds probably underestimate the damage caused by cereal aphids to Canadian spring wheat.


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