Effects of body size and prey quality on the reproductive attributes of two aphidophagous Coccinellidae (Coleoptera) species

2013 ◽  
Vol 145 (5) ◽  
pp. 566-576 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahadev Bista ◽  
Omkar

AbstractIn the present study, effects of body size and prey quality on reproductive attributes and longevity of two aphidophagous Coccinellidae (Coleoptera), Coccinella septempunctata (Linnaeus) and Coccinella transversalis Fabricius, have been investigated in laboratory conditions. Higher fecundity, egg fertility, and longevity were obtained in larger females of C. septempunctata on pea aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisum (Harris) (Hemiptera: Aphididae), and in C. transversalis on bean aphid, Aphis craccivora Koch (Hemiptera: Aphididae). Males of C. septempunctata survived longer than those of C. transversalis on both prey. Number of clutches was lower and clutch size was higher in early and late reproductive phase; the reverse was observed in the middle of the reproductive phase. Larger females of C. septempunctata and C. transversalis laid higher number of clutches than the smaller ones. Thus, both body size and prey quality affect reproductive performance in Coccinellidae, though size variation did not change the prey preference.

2001 ◽  
Vol 133 (4) ◽  
pp. 549-564 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda Chau ◽  
Manfred Mackauer

AbstractFemales of Monoctonus paulensis (Ashmead), a solitary parasitoid of aphids, generally select the relatively smaller over equally available larger instars of the pea aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisum (Harris) (Hemiptera: Aphidoidea: Aphididae). Large hosts contain more resources for parasitoid development and hence have presumably higher quality; however, they require more time to subdue and are more likely to escape. We tested the hypothesis that a female’s choice among first (L1), second (L2), third (L3), and fourth (L4) instars of the pea aphid is based on the optimal balance between fitness costs in terms of time and fitness gains in terms of offspring number and size. Prepupal mortality did not vary with host instar, but pupal mortality was greater among parasitoids developing in L4 than in any younger instars. Offspring mortality was not influenced by clutch size in that mortality risk did not differ between parasitoids developing alone and counterparts developing in a clutch. The sex ratio, measured as proportion of daughters among offspring, was female-biased on all four host instars; the degree of bias increased from 0.70 (in L1) to 0.92 (in L4). Parasitoid body size was a function of aphid size at parasitism. Females were larger than males; the magnitude of the difference in body size was constant and independent of host and hence parasitoid size. A female’s potential fecundity as measured by the number of ovarial eggs at eclosion varied with her size and larval ontogeny. The four instars of the pea aphid were ranked in the order L1 > L2 > L3 > L4 both in terms of the number of offspring produced per encountered host and in terms of a female’s time costs; first instars are easier to handle and are more abundant in the field than older instars. The four host types were ranked in the order L2 > L3 > L1 > L4 in terms of the proportion and potential fecundity of daughters among offspring. The observed preference pattern (L1 > L2 > L3 > L4) suggests that, in choosing hosts, females of M. paulensis maximize the number of offspring per unit of search time rather than simply offspring quality.


1997 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 332-341 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. D. Buntin ◽  
J. H. Bouton

The effect of continuous, intensive grazing by cattle on aphid populations was examined in the first growth cycle of ‘Alfagraze’ and ‘Apollo’ alfalfa which are tolerant and not tolerant to grazing, respectively. Populations were almost entirely pea aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisum (Harris). The effect of grazing on aphid populations was examined in small plot exclusion studies in 1991 and 1992, and the effects of grazing and use of an early insecticide application with ≤7 day grazing restriction were examined in large plot exclusion trials in 1993 and 1994. Grazing reduced aphid populations by 66% to 90% when numbers exceeded ~1 aphid per stem. Populations were not significantly reduced by grazing when numbers did not exceed 1 per stem. Permethrin reduced aphid numbers for up to 7 wks and was more effective than carbofuran. Effects of grazing were similar regardless of insecticide usage. Coccinellid beetle populations in 1993 and 1994 were composed of Coccinella septempunctata L., Harmonia axyridis (Pallas), and Coleomegilla maculata DeGeer. Coccinellid numbers were much lower in grazed than ungrazed plots when aphid numbers were reduced by grazing in 1993, but were not greatly affected by grazing in 1994 when aphid numbers were low. Coccinellid numbers paralleled trends in aphid numbers. Continuous, intensive grazing or the early application of an insecticide at a low rate followed by grazing were effective approaches for suppressing pea aphid in alfalfa.


2015 ◽  
Vol 55 (4) ◽  
pp. 421-428 ◽  
Author(s):  
Safura Soleimani ◽  
Hossein Madadi

Abstract Two important lady beetle species commonly found in alfalfa fields in Iran are the variegated lady beetle Hippodamia variegata Goeze and the seven spotted lady beetle Coccinella septempunctata (Linnaeus, 1758) (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae). These two species attack many aphid species including the pea aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisum (Harris) (Hemiptera: Aphididae). In this study, the seasonal population changes of A. pisum, H. variegata, C. septempunctata and the parasitoid, Dinocampus coccinellae (Schrank) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) were studied in alfalfa fields in the 2012 and 2013 seasonal periods. The highest ladybird densities were noted on July 5, 2012 and on September 6, 2013 (17.2±2.8 and 13.4±1.6) individuals per 20 sweeps, respectively. Parasitism rates by D. coccinellae ranged from approximately 3 to 6% in two subsequent years, respectively. Parasitism was higher early in the growing season. Most parasitised ladybirds were females. There was no significant relationship between the temperature and relative humidity with pea aphid populations, although the aphid populations declined during the hot summer period. In contrast, the relationship between temperature and the H. variegata population was significant and positive in both years of the study. It has been shown that these lady beetle species have a major role in reducing the pea aphid populations in alfalfa fields. Due to the relatively low percentage of field parasitism by D. coccinellae, this parasite might not reduce the biocontrol efficiency of lady beetle species.


2013 ◽  
Vol 146 (1) ◽  
pp. 52-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Omkar ◽  
Geetanjali Mishra ◽  
Bhupendra Kumar ◽  
Neha Singh ◽  
Garima Pandey

AbstractMultiple interactions occurring within aphidophagous guilds determine their final predation outcomes, i.e., antagonistic, additive, or synergistic. Based on these predatory outcomes, the suitability of guilds in suppressing aphid pests is determined. The present study assesses the efficacy of 11 guilds, formed from both larval and adult stages of four locally abundant aphidophagous coccinellids (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae), while exploiting the pea aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisum Harris (Hemiptera: Aphididae). The observed antagonistic effects within these guilds are resultants of enhanced predator–predator interactions due to the size and diversity of guild predators. Smaller ladybird predators maintained their usual body mass, probably by increasing their conversion efficiencies to compensate for their reduced prey consumption. However, larger ladybirds reported loss in their body mass, owing to their higher energy needs. The overall guild conversion efficiencies and growth rates were reduced. Among the experimental guilds, the observed prey mortalities were relatively higher in two-predator guilds, and within these two-predator combinations, the higher prey mortalities were recorded in those guilds where Coccinella septempunctata was one of the predators.


Intermittent Lighting Improves the Efficiency of Artificial Insemination in Cage Housed Laying Hens Kavtarashvili A.Sh., Kolokolnikova T.N. Federal Scientific Center “All-Russian Research and Technological Poultry Institute” of Russian Academy of Sciences Omsk Agrarian Scientific Center Summary: The effects of different lighting regimes on the oviposition schedule, productive performance, and reproductive efficiency in cage housed laying hens of layer parental flock (Hisex White-R) were studied; the reasonable regime of artificial insemination (AI) under intermittent lighting is proposed. It was found that intermittent lighting regime 1L:4D:4L:1D:4L:10D compared to the constant lighting significantly alters oviposition schedule: under this regime 82.3% of all daily eggs were laid until 9 am (vs. 66.6% in control). This regime and AI at 10 am improved the productive and reproductive performance compared to control (constant lighting 16L:8D and AI at 12 am): mortality by 1.9%, egg production per initial hen by 3.8%, egg weight by 1.1%, percentage of eggs suitable for incubation by 1.9%, egg fertility by 0.9%, hatchability by 2.3%, hatch of chicks by 2.9%, feed conversion ratio (kg of feed per 10 eggs) by 5.3%, the expenses of electric energy for lighting (per 1000 eggs suitable for incubation) by 54.5%. Key words: INTERMITTENT LIGHTING, CAGE HOUSED LAYERS, ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION (AI), OVIPOSITION SCHEDULE, AI TIMING, PRODUCTIVE PERFORMANCE, REPRODUCTIVE PERFORMANCE


Animals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 2053
Author(s):  
Junsong Shi ◽  
Baohua Tan ◽  
Lvhua Luo ◽  
Zicong Li ◽  
Linjun Hong ◽  
...  

How to maximize the use of the genetic merits of the high-ranking boars (also called superior ones) is a considerable question in the pig breeding industry, considering the money and time spent on selection. Somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) is one of the potential ways to answer the question, which can be applied to produce clones with genetic resources of superior boar for the production of commercial pigs. For practical application, it is essential to investigate whether the clones and their progeny keep behaving better than the “normal boars”, considering that in vitro culture and transfer manipulation would cause a series of harmful effects to the development of clones. In this study, 59,061 cloned embryos were transferred into 250 recipient sows to produce the clones of superior Pietrain boars. The growth performance of 12 clones and 36 non-clones and the semen quality of 19 clones and 28 non-clones were compared. The reproductive performance of 21 clones and 25 non-clones were also tested. Furthermore, we made a comparison in the growth performance between 466 progeny of the clones and 822 progeny of the non-clones. Our results showed that no significant difference in semen quality and reproductive performance was observed between the clones and the non-clones, although the clones grew slower and exhibited smaller body size than the non-clones. The F1 progeny of the clones showed a greater growth rate than the non-clones. Our results demonstrated through the large animal population showed that SCNT manipulation resulted in a low growth rate and small body size, but the clones could normally produce F1 progeny with excellent growth traits to bring more economic benefits. Therefore, SCNT could be effective in enlarging the merit genetics of the superior boars and increasing the economic benefits in pig reproduction and breeding.


Author(s):  
Ricardo Wilches ◽  
William H Beluch ◽  
Ellen McConnell ◽  
Diethard Tautz ◽  
Yingguang Frank Chan

Abstract Most phenotypic traits in nature involve the collective action of many genes. Traits that evolve repeatedly are particularly useful for understanding how selection may act on changing trait values. In mice, large body size has evolved repeatedly on islands and under artificial selection in the laboratory. Identifying the loci and genes involved in this process may shed light on the evolution of complex, polygenic traits. Here, we have mapped the genetic basis of body size variation by making a genetic cross between mice from the Faroe Islands, which are among the largest and most distinctive natural populations of mice in the world, and a laboratory mouse strain selected for small body size, SM/J. Using this F2 intercross of 841 animals, we have identified 111 loci controlling various aspects of body size, weight and growth hormone levels. By comparing against other studies, including the use of a joint meta-analysis, we found that the loci involved in the evolution of large size in the Faroese mice were largely independent from those of a different island population or other laboratory strains. We hypothesize that colonization bottleneck, historical hybridization, or the redundancy between multiple loci have resulted in the Faroese mice achieving an outwardly similar phenotype through a distinct evolutionary path.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maggie M. Hantak ◽  
Bryan S. McLean ◽  
Daijiang Li ◽  
Robert P. Guralnick

AbstractAnthropogenically-driven climate warming is a hypothesized driver of animal body size reductions. Less understood are effects of other human-caused disturbances on body size, such as urbanization. We compiled 140,499 body size records of over 100 North American mammals to test how climate and human population density, a proxy for urbanization, and their interactions with species traits, impact body size. We tested three hypotheses of body size variation across urbanization gradients: urban heat island effects, habitat fragmentation, and resource availability. Our results demonstrate that both urbanization and temperature influence mammalian body size variation, most often leading to larger individuals, thus supporting the resource availability hypothesis. In addition, life history and other ecological factors play a critical role in mediating the effects of climate and urbanization on body size. Larger mammals and species that utilize thermal buffering are more sensitive to warmer temperatures, while flexibility in activity time appears to be advantageous in urbanized areas. This work highlights the value of using digitized, natural history data to track how human disturbance drives morphological variation.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Guang Wang ◽  
Jing-Jiang Zhou ◽  
Yan Li ◽  
Yuping Gou ◽  
Peter Quandahor ◽  
...  

AbstractTrehalose serves multifarious roles in growth and development of insects. In this study, we demonstrated that the high trehalose diet increased the glucose content, and high glucose diet increased the glucose content but decreased the trehalose content of Acyrthosiphon pisum. RNA interference (RNAi) of trehalose-6-phosphate synthase gene (ApTPS) decreased while RNAi of trehalase gene (ApTRE) increased the trehalose and glucose contents. In the electrical penetration graph experiment, RNAi of ApTPS increased the percentage of E2 waveform and decreased the percentage of F and G waveforms. The high trehalose and glucose diets increased the percentage of E2 waveform of A. pisum red biotype. The correlation between feeding behavior and sugar contents indicated that the percentage of E1 and E2 waveforms were increased but np, C, F and G waveforms were decreased in low trehalose and glucose contents. The percentage of np, E1 and E2 waveforms were reduced but C, F and G waveforms were elevated in high trehalose and glucose contents. The results suggest that the A. pisum with high trehalose and glucose contents spent less feeding time during non-probing phase and phloem feeding phase, but had an increased feeding time during probing phase, stylet work phase and xylem feeding phase.


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