Pengxiang Wu, Megan L. Head, Juan Yang, Yanan Wang, Qiaoling Lin
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Numerous studies focus on food-for-protection ant-aphid mutualism while ignoring the potential aphid’s protection for ants. To obtain a comprehensive understanding of bidirectional services in ant-aphid mutualism in goji berry, we manipulated the presence and abundance of ladybugs or mites, analyzing their impact on the ant-aphid mutualism persistence. We found that ants provided aphid protection from ladybugs and aphids provided anti-mite measures for protecting ants. For aphid protection by ants, 1) ant presence eroded the positive aphid-ladybug abundance relationship by reducing ladybug attendance. 2) Aphid-infested plants with more ants were less acceptable to ladybugs (ant-ladybug ratio above 1.75). 3) Ant presence impacted consumption traits of ladybugs, including aphid consumption (43.5% less), handling time (220.3% more), and theoretical maximum consumption (68.8% less). For ant protection by aphids, 4) aphid presence alleviated negative impacts on ants caused by mites by reducing mite abundance. 5) High-abundance mites (mite-ant ratio above 70) significantly reduced ant attendance. 6) The substantial volume of aphid honeydew had remarkable anti-mite effects by trapping mites (above 0.7 ml per leaf). Besides food-for-protection mutualism, our study indicates that anti-mite measures of aphids for protecting ants could promote the persistence of ant-aphid mutualism. Both protections were density-dependent, suggesting in practical applications of ladybugs, inundative biological control based on density advantage could be a promising option for rapid impact on aphids. Effective control strategies should focus on reducing the aphid abundance below the economic threshold rather than attempting eradication, allowing aphids to naturally suppress mite populations. This could effectively reduce the dosage of pesticide products.
期刊介绍：
Its scope covers all aspects of basic and applied research dealing with insects and more broadly with arthropods inhabiting wild, agricultural and/or urban habitats. The journal also considers research integrating various disciplines and issues within the broad field of entomology and ecology.
Entomologia Generalis publishes high quality research articles on advances in knowledge on the ecology and biology of arthropods, as well as on their importance for key ecosystems services, e.g. as biological control and pollination. The journal devotes special attention to contributions providing significant advances (i) on the fundamental knowledge and on sustainable control strategies of arthropod pests (including of stored products) and vectors of diseases, (ii) on the biology and ecology of beneficial arthropods, (iii) on the spread and impact of invasive pests, and (iv) on potential side effects of pest management methods.
Entomologia Generalis welcomes review articles on significant developments in the field of entomology. These are usually invited by the editorial board, but proposals may be sent to the Editor-in-Chief for preliminary assessment by the editorial board before formal submission to the journal. The journal also considers comments on papers published in Entomologia Generalis, as well as short notes on topics that are of broader interest.
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