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Ants affect the infestation levels but not the parasitism of honeydew and non-honeydew producing pests in citrus

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 November 2013

A. Calabuig ,
F. Garcia-Marí  and
A. Pekas
A. Calabuig*
Affiliation:
Instituto Agroforestal Mediterráneo (IAM), Universitat Politècnica de València, Camí de Vera s/n, 46022, València, Spain
F. Garcia-Marí
Affiliation:
Instituto Agroforestal Mediterráneo (IAM), Universitat Politècnica de València, Camí de Vera s/n, 46022, València, Spain
A. Pekas
Affiliation:
Instituto Agroforestal Mediterráneo (IAM), Universitat Politècnica de València, Camí de Vera s/n, 46022, València, Spain Biobest Belgium N.V., R&D Department, Ilse Velden 18, 2260 Westerlo, Belgium
*
*Author for correspondence Phone: +34651995119 Fax: +34963877331 E-mail: alteac@outlook.com
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Abstract

Ants act simultaneously as predators and as hemipteran mutualists, and thereby may affect the composition and population dynamics of a wide arthropod community. We conducted ant-exclusion experiments in order to determine the impact of ants on the infestation levels and parasitism of three of the most important citrus pests of western Mediterranean citrus: the honeydew producer Aleurothrixus floccosus Maskell (woolly whitefly) and the non-honeydew producers Aonidiella aurantii Maskell (California red scale; CRS) and Phyllocnistis citrella (Staiton) (citrus leafminer). The study was conducted in three commercial citrus orchards, each one dominated by one ant species (Pheidole pallidula, Lasius grandis or Linepithema humile) during two consecutive growing seasons (2011 and 2012). We registered a significant reduction of the CRS densities on fruits in the ant-excluded treatment in the three orchards and in the two seasons, ranging from as high as 41% to as low as 21%. Similarly, the percentage of shoots occupied by A. floccosus was significantly lower in the ant-excluded plots in the orchards dominated by P. pallidula and L. humile. No significant differences were registered in the percentage of leaf surface loss caused by P. citrella between ant-allowed and ant-excluded treatments in any case. We found no significant differences in the percent parasitism between ant-allowed and ant-excluded treatments for honeydew and non-honeydew producing herbivores. These results suggest that: (i) ant management should be considered in order to reduce herbivore populations in citrus and (ii) mechanisms other than parasitism (e.g., predation) might explain the differences in herbivore infestation levels between treatments.

Keywords

Lasius grandisPheidole pallidulaLinepithema humileAonidiella aurantiiAleurothrixus floccosusPhyllocnistis citrella
Type
Research Paper
Information
Bulletin of Entomological Research , Volume 104 , Issue 4 , August 2014 , pp. 405 - 417
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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