Intraguild Interactions between the Mealybug Predators and .

Insects

Department of Plants and Crops, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium.

Published: July 2021

AI Article Synopsis

  • The ladybird and green lacewing are being studied as potential biological control agents for mealybug pests in greenhouse crops.
  • Researchers evaluated interactions between these two predators to see if they negatively affect each other's effectiveness in controlling pests.
  • Results showed frequent intraguild predation (where one predator eats another), but adding extra prey like nymphs or eggs reduced these predation events.

Article Abstract

The ladybird and the green lacewing have shown potential for use in augmentative biological control of mealybug pests in greenhouse crops. In the context of combining these predators within an integrated pest management system, the risk of negative intraguild interactions between both predators was evaluated in a laboratory setting. Different life stages of either predator were confronted in petri dish arenas containing a leaf, and after 24 h the incidence and direction of intraguild predation (IGP) was recorded for each combination. The effect of adding nymphs or eggs as extraguild prey on the level of IGP was also studied. IGP was frequently observed between the two predator species and was asymmetrical in favour of in most cases. The presence of extraguild prey reduced the number of IGP events between the predators to a similar extent. The relevance of the observed intraguild interactions for the combined use of these predators in protected cultivation is discussed.

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Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8308031PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects12070655DOI Listing

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