Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T18:33:02.688Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Interspecific competition between two generalist parasitoids that attack the leafroller Epiphyas postvittana (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 January 2015

Y. Feng
Affiliation:
School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia
S. Wratten
Affiliation:
Bio-Protection Research Centre, Lincoln University, PO Box 85084, Lincoln 7647, New Zealand
H. Sandhu
Affiliation:
School of the Environment, Flinders University, PO Box 2100 Adelaide, SA 5001, Australia
M. Keller*
Affiliation:
School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia
*
*Author for correspondence Phone: +61-8-8313-6713 E-mail: mike.keller@adelaide.edu.au

Abstract

Two generalist parasitoids, Dolichogenidea tasmanica (Cameron) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) and Therophilus unimaculatus (Turner) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) attack early instars of tortricid moths, including the light brown apple moth, Epiphyas postvittana (Walker) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae). The two parasitoids co-exist in natural habitats, while D. tasmanica is dominant in vineyards, whereas T. unimaculatus occurs mainly in adjacent native vegetation. This difference suggests possible competition between the two species, mediated by habitat. Here, we report on the extent of interspecific differences in host discrimination and the outcome of interspecific competition between the two parasitoids. The parasitoids did not show different behavioural responses to un-parasitized hosts or those that were parasitized by the other species. Larvae of D. tasmanica out-competed those of T. unimaculatus, irrespective of the order or interval between attacks by the two species. The host larvae that were attacked by two parasitoids died more frequently before a parasitoid completed its larval development than those that were attacked by a single parasitoid. Dissection of host larvae parasitized by both species indicated that first instars of D. tasmanica attacked and killed larval T. unimaculatus.

Type
Research Papers
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aluja, M., Ovruski, S.M., Sivinski, J., Córdova-García, G., Schliserman, P., Nuñez-Campero, S.R. & Ordano, M. (2013) Inter-specific competition and competition-free space in the tephritid parasitoids Utetes anastrephae and Doryctobracon areolatus (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Opiinae). Ecological Entomology 38, 485496.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Amarasekare, P. (2003) Competitive coexistence in spatially structured environments: a synthesis. Ecology Letters 6, 11091122.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bishop, A.L. & McKenzie, H.J. (1991) Key mortality factors of Merophyas divulsana (Walker) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) larvae in the Hunter Valley. General and Applied Entomology 23, 5964.Google Scholar
Bogran, C.E., Heinz, K.M. & Ciomperlik, M.A. (2002) Interspecific competition among insect parasitoids: field experiments with whiteflies as hosts in cotton. Ecology 83, 653668.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boivin, G. & Brodeur, J. (2006) Intra-and interspecific interactions among parasitoids: mechanisms, outcomes and biological control. pp. 123144 in Boivin, G. & Brodeur, J. (Eds) Trophic and Guild Interactions in Biological Control. Springer, Dordrecht, The Netherlands.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brodeur, J. & Boivin, G. (2004) Functional ecology of immature parasitoids. Annual Review of Entomology 49, 2749.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Charles, J.G., Walker, J.T.S. & White, V. (1996) Leafroller phenology and parasitism in Hawkes bay, New Zealand, canefruit gardens. New Zealand Journal of Crop and Horticultural Science 24, 123131.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Collier, T., Kelly, S. & Hunter, M. (2002) Egg size, intrinsic competition, and lethal interference in the parasitoids Encarsia pergandiella and Encarsia formosa . Biological Control 23, 254261.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Collier, T.R. & Hunter, M.S. (2001) Lethal interference competition in the whitefly parasitoids Eretmocerus eremicus and Encarsia sophia . Oecologia 129, 147154.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
De Moraes, C.M. & Mescher, M.C. (2005) Intrinsic competition between larval parasitoids with different degrees of host specificity. Ecological Entomology 30, 564570.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Moraes, C.M., Cortesero, A.M., Stapel, J.O. & Lewis, W.J. (1999) Intrinsic and extrinsic competitive interactions between two larval parasitoids of Heliothis virescens . Ecological Entomology 24, 402410.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ehler, L. (1990) Introduction strategies in biological control of insects. pp. 111134 in Mackauer, M., Ehler, L.E. & Roland, J. (Eds) Critical Issues in Biological Control. Andover, UK, Intercept.Google Scholar
Force, D.C. (1985) Competition among parasitoids of endophytic hosts. American Naturalist 126, 440444.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Godfray, H.C.J. (1994) Parasitoids: Behavioral and Evolutionary Ecology. Princeton, New Jersey, Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gurr, G., Wratten, S.D. & Altieri, M.A. (2004) Ecological Engineering for Pest Management: Advances in Habitat Manipulation for Arthropods. CSIRO Publishing, Clayton, Victoria, Australia.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hanski, I. & Ranta, E. (1983) Coexistence in a patchy environment: three species of Daphnia in rock pools. Journal of Animal Ecology 52, 263279.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harvey, J.A., Gols, R. & Strand, M.R. (2009) Intrinsic competition and its effects on the survival and development of three species of endoparasitoid wasps. Entomologia Experimentalis Et Applicata 130, 238248.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Harvey, J.A., Poelman, E.H. & Tanaka, T. (2013) Intrinsic inter-and intraspecific competition in parasitoid wasps. Annual Review of Entomology 58, 333351.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hawkins, B.A. (2000) Species coexistence in parasitoid communities: does competition matter? pp. 198213 in Hochberg, M.E. & Ives, A.R. (Eds) Parasitoid Population Biology. Princeton, New Jersey, Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Iwao, K. & Ohsaki, N. (1996) Inter-and intraspecific interactions among larvae of specialist and generalist parasitoids. Researches on Population Ecology 38, 265273.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kato, M. (1996) Effects of parasitoid community structure upon the population dynamics of the honeysuckle leafminer, Chromatomyia suikazurae (Diptera: Agromyzidae). Researches on Population Ecology 38, 2740.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keller, M.A. (1990) Responses of the parasitoid Cotesia rubecula to its host Pieris rapae in a flight tunnel. Entomologia Experimentalis Et Applicata 57, 243249.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mackauer, M. (1990) Host Discrimination and Larval Competition in Solitary Endoparasitoids. pp. 111134 in Mackauer, M., Ehler, L.E. & Roland, J. (Eds) Critical Issues in Biological Control. Andover, UK, Intercept.Google Scholar
Mills, N. (2003) Parasitoid interactions and biological control. pp. 108–113 in Proceedings of the 1st International Symposium on Biological Control of Arthropods, United States Department of Agricuture, Forest Service, Washington, USA.Google Scholar
Murdoch, W.W., Briggs, C.J. & Collier, T.R. (1998) Biological control of insects: implications for theory in population ecology. pp. 167186 in Dempster, J.P. & McLean, I.F.G. (Eds) Insect Populations in Theory and in Practice. Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Orre-Gordon, S., Jacometti, M., Tompkins, J. & Wratten, S.D. (2013) Viticulture can be modified to provide multiple ecosystem services. pp. 4357 in Wratten, S.D., Sandhu, H.S. Cullen, R. & Costanza, R. (Eds) Ecosystem Services in Agricultural and Urban Landscapes. John Wiley & Sons.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paladino, L.Z.C., Papeschi, A.G. & Cladera, J.L. (2010) Immature stages of development in the parasitoid wasp. Diachasmimorpha longicaudata . Journal of Insect Science 10, 56.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Paull, C. (2007) The ecology of key arthropods for the management of Epiphyas postvittana (Walker) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) in Coonawarra vineyards, South Australia. PhD Thesis, Vol. 130. School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide.Google Scholar
Paull, C. & Austin, A.D. (2006) The hymenopteran parasitoids of light brown apple moth, Epiphyas postvittana (Walker) (Lepidoptera : Tortricidae) in Australia. Australian Journal of Entomology 45, 142156.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pijls, J.W.A.M. & Van Alphen, J.M. (1996) On the coexistence of the cassava mealybug parasitoids Apoanagyrus diversicornis and A-lopezi (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) in their native South America. Bulletin of Entomological Research 86, 5159.Google Scholar
Pschorn-Walcher, H. (1971) Experiments on inter-specific competition between three species of tachinids attacking the sugar cane moth borer, Diatraea saccharalis (F.). Entomophaga 16, 125131.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reitz, S.R. (1996) Interspecific competition between two parasitoids of Helicoverpa zea: Eucelatoria bryani and E-rubentis . Entomologia Experimentalis Et Applicata 79, 227234.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosenheim, J.A., Kaya, H., Ehler, L., Marois, J.J. & Jaffee, B. (1995) Intraguild predation among biological-control agents: theory and evidence. Biological Control 5, 303335.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scarratt, S.L., Wratten, S.D. & Shishehbor, P. (2008) Measuring parasitoid movement from floral resources in a vineyard. Biological Control 46, 107113.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scholefield, P. & Morison, J. (2010) Assessment of Economic Cost of Endemic Pests and Diseases on the Australian Grape and Wine Industry(GWR 08/04). Final Report to the Grape and Wine Research & Development Corporation, Adelaide, SA, Australia.Google Scholar
Stevens, N.B., Austin, A.D. & Jennings, J.T. (2011) Diversity, distribution and taxonomy of the Australian agathidine genera Camptothlipsis Enderlein, Lytopylus Foerster and Therophilus Wesmael (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Agathidinae). Zootaxa 2887, 149.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Suckling, D.M. & Brockerhoff, E.G. (2010) Invasion biology, ecology, and management of the light brown apple moth (Tortricidae). Annual Review of Entomology 55, 285306.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Suckling, D.M., Burnip, G.M., Walker, J.T.S., Shaw, P.W., McLaren, G.F., Howard, C.R., Lo, P., White, V. & Fraser, J. (1998) Abundance of leaf rollers and their parasitoids on selected host plants in New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Crop and Horticultural Science 26, 193203.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tian, S.P., Zhang, J.H., Yan, Y.H. & Wang, C.Z. (2008) Interspecific competition between the ichneumonid Campoletis chlorideae and the braconid Microplitis mediator in their host Helicoverpa armigera . Entomologia Experimentalis Et Applicata 127, 1019.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Turnbull, A. & Chant, D. (1961) The practice and theory of biological control of insects in Canada. Canadian Journal of Zoology 39, 697753.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Alphen, J.J. & Visser, M.E. (1990) Superparasitism as an adaptive strategy for insect parasitoids. Annual Review of Entomology 35, 5979.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Van Nouhuys, S. & Hanski, I. (2005) Metacommunities of butterflies, their host plants, and their parasitoids. pp. 99121 in Holyoak, M., Leibold, M.A. & Holt, R.D. (Eds) Metacommunities: Spatial Dynamics and Ecological Communities. Chicago, Illinois, USA, University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Van Nouhuys, S. & Punju, E. (2010) Coexistence of competing parasitoids: which is the fugitive and where does it hide? Oikos 119, 6170.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vet, L.E.M., Meyer, M., Bakker, K. & Van Alphen, J.J.M. (1984) Intra-and interspecific host discrimination in Asobara (Hymenoptera) larval endo-parasitoids of Drosophilidae: comparison between closely related and less closely related species. Animal Behaviour 32, 871874.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, X.G., Bokonon-Ganta, A.H. & Messing, R.H. (2008) Intrinsic inter-specific competition in a guild of tephritid fruit fly parasitoids: effect of co-evolutionary history on competitive superiority. Biological Control 44, 312320.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yazdani, M., Feng, Y., Glatz, R. & Keller, M.A. (2014) Host stage preference of Dolichogenidea tasmanica (Cameron, 1912) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), a parasitoid of Epiphyas postvittana (Walker, 1863) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae). Austral Entomology. doi: 10.1111/aen.12130 (In press).Google Scholar
Yu, D.W., Wilson, H.B., Frederickson, M.E., Palomino, W., De La Colina, R., Edwards, D.P. & Balareso, A.A. (2004) Experimental demonstration of species coexistence enabled by dispersal limitation. Journal of Animal Ecology 73, 11021114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar