Parasitism and Suitability of on Large Eggs of Two Factitious Hosts: and .

, an effective biological control agent, demonstrates promise in environmentally sustainable pest management through its parasitic action toward insect eggs. This study evaluates the parasitism fitness and ability of with regard to two factitious host eggs, aiming to develop a cost-effective biological control program. While demonstrated the ability to parasitize both host eggs, the results indicate a preference for ES eggs over COS eggs.

Individual flowering phenology shapes plant-pollinator interactions across ecological scales affecting plant reproduction.

The balance of pollination competition and facilitation among co-flowering plants and abiotic resource availability can modify plant species and individual reproduction. Floral resource succession and spatial heterogeneity modulate plant-pollinator interactions across ecological scales (individual plant, local assemblage, and interaction network of agroecological infrastructure across the farm). Intraspecific variation in flowering phenology can modulate the precise level of spatio-temporal heterogeneity in floral resources, pollen donor density, and pollinator interactions that a plant individual is exposed to, thereby affecting reproduction.

Gradually Increasing the Temperature Reduces the Diapause Termination Time of While Increasing Parasitoid Performance.

Matsumura is widely used as a biological control agent of many lepidopteran pests. Diapause has been used as an effective method to preserve the products during mass rearing production. However, it currently takes at least 70 days to break diapause, and we tested whether gradually increasing the temperature instead of using constant temperature could reduce the time of diapause termination and offer a higher flexibility to producers.

Combination of generalist predators, Nesidiocoris tenuis and Macrolophus pygmaeus, with a companion plant, Sesamum indicum: What benefit for biological control of Tuta absoluta?

Tuta absoluta is one of the most damaging pests of tomato crops worldwide. Damage due to larvae may cause up to 100% loss of tomato production. Use of natural enemies to control the pest, notably predatory mirids such as Nesidiocoris tenuis and Macrolophus pygmaeus, is increasingly being promoted.

Parasitoid-mediated indirect interactions between unsuitable and suitable hosts generate apparent predation in microcosm and modeling studies.

Parasitoids used as biological control agents often parasitize more than a single host species and these hosts tend to vary in suitability for offspring development. The population dynamics of parasitoids and hosts may be altered by these interactions, with outcomes dependent on the levels of suitability and acceptance of both host species. Parasitism of individuals of an unsuitable host species may indirectly increase populations of a suitable host species if eggs laid into unsuitable hosts do not develop into adult parasitoids.

Sublethal effects of beta-cypermethrin modulate interspecific interactions between specialist and generalist aphid species on soybean.

In agroecosystems, plant-pest interactions are at the basis of complex food webs, which can be affected by both biotic and abiotic factors. In the present study, we evaluated the impact of the insecticide beta-cypermethrin on interspecific interactions between the specialist aphid Aphis glycines and the generalist aphid Aulacorthum solani on soybean. Aphis glycines showed higher fecundity than A.

Oviposition preference and adult performance of the whitefly predator Serangium japonicum (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae): effect of leaf microstructure associated with ladybeetle attachment ability.

Background: The leaf surface microstructure can greatly influence predator feeding behavior. However, its effects on predator oviposition preference, which is crucial for arthropod fitness at the population level, are largely unknown. This study aimed to test leaf discs and plants of five common host plant species of Bemisia tabaci, including Chinese kale, cotton, cucumber, eggplant, and sweetpotato, to determine the oviposition preference and offspring and adult performance of the whitefly predator Serangium japonicum.

The preference-performance relationship as a means of classifying parasitoids according to their specialization degree.

Host range in parasitoids could be described by the preference-performance hypothesis (PPH) where preference is defined as host acceptance and performance is defined as the sum of all species on which parasitoid offspring can complete their life cycle. The PPH predicts that highly suitable hosts will be preferred by ovipositing females. However, generalist parasitoids may not conform to this hypothesis if they attack a large range of hosts of varying suitability.

Impact of host endosymbionts on parasitoid host range - from mechanisms to communities.

In insects, bacterial endosymbionts are known to influence the ecology of their hosts by modifying interactions with natural enemies such as parasitoids. Symbionts can modulate both parasitoid behavioral and/or physiological traits as well as host behaviors and life-history traits. Together these suggest that endosymbionts may impact the host range of parasitoids.

Potential for insecticide-mediated shift in ecological dominance between two competing aphid species.

Competition is a key structuring component of biological communities, which is affected by both biotic and abiotic environmental stressors. Among the latter, anthropic stressors and particularly pesticides are noteworthy due to their intrinsic toxicity and large use in agroecosystems. However this issue has been scarcely documented so far.

Effects of Abiotic Factors on HIPV-Mediated Interactions between Plants and Parasitoids.

In contrast to constitutively emitted plant volatiles (PV), herbivore-induced plant volatiles (HIPV) are specifically emitted by plants when afflicted with herbivores. HIPV can be perceived by parasitoids and predators which parasitize or prey on the respective herbivores, including parasitic hymenoptera. HIPV act as signals and facilitate host/prey detection.