Plant traits, which are often species specific, can serve as environmental filtering for community assembly on plants. At the same time, the species identity of the initially colonizing arthropods would vary between plant individuals, which would subsequently influence colonizing arthropods and community development in the later stages. However, it remains unclear whether interindividual divergence due to priority effects is equally important as plant trait-specific environmental filtering in the initial stages.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFReliable survey of arthropods is a crucial for their conservation, community ecology, and pest control on terrestrial plants. However, efficient and comprehensive surveys are hindered by challenges in collecting arthropods and identifying especially small species. To address this issue, we developed a non-destructive environmental DNA (eDNA) collection method termed "plant flow collection" to apply eDNA metabarcoding to terrestrial arthropods.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProhydrojasmon (PDJ), an analog of jasmonic acid (JA), was found to induce direct and indirect defenses against herbivores in non-infested plants. To test whether PDJ can be used for pest control in crop production, we conducted experiments in pesticide-free Japanese radish fields from October 4 to December 12 in 2015. Twenty-four Japanese radish plants in three plots were treated with a 100 times-diluted commercial formulation (5%) of PDJ (treated plants), and 24 plants in three different plots were treated with water (control plants) until November 29 every week.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe characterized the correlation between the occurrences of diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella (L.), larvae and their dominant native parasitoid wasp, Cotesia vestalis (Haliday), in commercial greenhouses in a satoyama area, called Miyama, in Kyoto, Japan. In the three greenhouses used in this study, cruciferous 'mizuna' (Brassica rapa var.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUsing Cotesia vestalis, a parasitoid wasp of diamondback moth larvae and three crucifer plant species (cabbage, komatsuna, and Japanese radish), we examined the effects of exposure to host-infested plant volatiles from one plant species on a newly emerged wasp's subsequent olfactory cognition of host-infested plant volatiles from the same or different plant species. The preference of C. vestalis between infested and uninfested plant volatiles was tested in a choice chamber.
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