Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T16:09:28.980Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Host selection by the generalist aphid Myzus persicae (Hemiptera: Aphididae) and its subspecies specialized on tobacco, after being reared on the same host

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2007

A.J. Troncoso ,
R.R. Vargas ,
D.H. Tapia ,
R. Olivares-Donoso  and
H.M. Niemeyer
A.J. Troncoso
Affiliation:
Departamento de Ciencias Ecológicas, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Chile, Casilla 653, Santiago, Chile
R.R. Vargas
Affiliation:
Departamento de Ciencias Ecológicas, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Chile, Casilla 653, Santiago, Chile
D.H. Tapia
Affiliation:
Departamento de Ciencias Ecológicas, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Chile, Casilla 653, Santiago, Chile
R. Olivares-Donoso
Affiliation:
Departamento de Ciencias Ecológicas, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Chile, Casilla 653, Santiago, Chile
H.M. Niemeyer*
Affiliation:
Departamento de Ciencias Ecológicas, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Chile, Casilla 653, Santiago, Chile
*
*Fax: +56 2 678 7445 E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Decision-making during host selection by phytophagous insects has proved to be related to host range, with specialists taking faster decisions than generalists; however, this pattern fails to materialize in some host selection studies performed with aphids. Differences found in testing designs point to rearing effects on aphid host selection. To test whether specialization patterns derive from the nature of the aphid or as a consequence of rearing environment, host selection behaviours were compared between the generalist Myzus persicae (Sulzer) s.s. and its subspecies specialized on tobacco when reared on a common host and offered the choice of an alternative host and a non-host plant. Pre-alighting (host finding and attraction towards host volatiles) and post-alighting (leaf surface exploration and probing) behaviours did not differ between the generalist and the tobacco-specialist, except in the allocation of time to probing behaviour; furthermore, all specialists chose the host on which they performed best. Thus, although the specialist was not faster than the generalist, it showed a higher level of commitment to its preferred host plant.

Type
Research Article
Information
Bulletin of Entomological Research , Volume 95 , Issue 1 , February 2005 , pp. 23 - 28
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2005

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

Agrawal, A.A. (2002) Herbivory and maternal effects: mechanisms and consequences of transgenerational induced plant resistance. Ecology 83, 3408–3415.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bernays, E.A. (1998) The value of being a resource specialist: behavioral support for a neural hypothesis. American Naturalist 151, 451–464.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bernays, E.A. & Chapman, R.F. (1994) Host-plant selection by phytophagous insects. London: Chapman and Hall.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bernays, E.A. & Funk, D. (1999) Specialists make faster decisions than generalists: experiments with aphids. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B 266, 151–156.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blackman, R.L. & Eastop, V.F. (2005) Taxonomic issues. in van Emden, H.F., Harrington, R. (Eds) Aphids as crop pests. Wallingford, Oxon, CAB International, in press.Google Scholar
Boiteau, G. & Lowery, D.T. (1989) Comparison of a yellow form of the green peach aphid, Myzus persicae (Sulzer), and a green form of the tobacco aphid, Myzus nicotianae (Blackman), coexisting on a greenhouse potato in New Brunswick. Canadian Entomologist 121, 1029–1035.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brain, C.K. (1940) Host plants of the tobacco aphid (Myzus persicae). Rhodesia Agricultural Journal 37, 254–255.Google Scholar
Caillaud, C.M. & Via, S. (2000) Specialized feeding behavior influences both ecological specialization and assortative mating in sympatric host races of pea aphid. American Naturalist 156, 606–621.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chapman, R.F., Bernays, E.A., Singer, M.S. & Hartman, T. (2003) Experience influences gustatory responsiveness to pyrrolizidine alkaloids in the polyphagous caterpillar, Estigmene acrea. Journal of Comparative Physiology A 189, 833–841.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dixon, A.F.G. (1998) Aphid ecology. 2nd edn. New York, Chapman & Hall.Google Scholar
Fox, L.R. & Morrow, P.A. (1981) Specialization: species property or local phenomenon. Science 211, 887–893.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Funk, D. & Bernays, E.A. (2001) Geographic variation in host specificity reveals host range evolution in Uroleucon ambrosiae aphids. Ecology 82, 726–739.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hardie, J., Holyoak, M., Taylor, N.J., Griffiths, D.C. (1992) The combination of electronic monitoring and video-assisted observation of plant penetration by aphids and behavioral effects of polygodial. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata 62, 233–239.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Landolt, P.J. & Molina, O. (1996) Host-finding by cabbage looper moths (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae): learning of host odour upon contact with host foliage. Journal of Insect Behavior 9, 899–908.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
LaRock, D.R., Mirdad, Z., Ellington, J.J., Carrillo, T., Southward, M. (2003) Control of green peach aphids Myzus persicae (Homoptera: Aphididae) with lady beetles Harmonia axyridis (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) on chile Capsicum anuum in the greenhouse. Southwestern Entomologist 28, 249–253.Google Scholar
Lushai, G., Sherratt, T.N., David, O., De Barro, P.J. & Maclean, N. (1997) Host selection by winged summer females of the aphid Sitobion avenae. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata 85, 199–209.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacArthur, R.H. & Pianka, E.R. (1966) On optimal use of a patchy environment. American Naturalist 100, 603–609.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Margaritopoulos, J.T., Tsitsipis, J.A., Zintzaras, E. & Blackman, R.L. (2000) Host-correlated morphological variation of Myzus persicae (Hemiptera: Aphididae) populations in Greece. Bulletin of Entomological Research 90, 233–244.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mustaparta, H. (2002) Encoding of plant odour information in insects: peripheral and central mechanisms. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata 104, 1–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Niemeyer, H.M. (1990) The role of secondary plant compounds in aphid–host interactions. pp. 787–205 in Campbell, R.K. & Eikenbary, R.D. (Eds) Aphid–plant genotype interactions. Amsterdam, Elsevier.Google Scholar
Nikolakakis, N.N., Margaritopoulos, J.T. & Tsitsipis, J.A. (2003) Performance of Myzus persicae (Hemiptera: Aphididae) clones on different host-plants and their host preference. Bulletin of Entomological Research 93, 235–242.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Noldus Information Technology b.v. (1995) The Observer: Software for behavioural research. The Netherlands, Noldus Information Technology b.vGoogle Scholar
Papaj, D.R. & Prokopy, R.J. (1989) Ecological and evolutionary aspects of learning in phytophagous insects. Annual Review of Entomology 34, 315–350.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pettersson, J. (1970) An aphid sex attractant, 1. Biological studies. Entomologia Scandinavica 1, 63–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pigliucci, M. (2001) Phenotypic plasticity: beyond nature and nurture. Maryland, The Johns Hopkins University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Powell, G. & Hardie, J. (2000) Host-selection behaviour by genetically identical aphids with different plant preferences. Physiological Entomology 25, 54–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prado, E. & Tjallingii, W.F. (1999) Effects of experimental stress factors on probing behaviour by aphids. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata 90, 289–300.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Price, P.W. (1997) Insect ecology. New York, John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Prokopy, R.J. (1986) Visual and olfactory stimulus interaction in resource finding by insects Mechanisms in insect. pp. 81–89 in Payne, T.L., Birch, M.C. & Kennedy, C.E.J. (Eds) Mechanisms in insect olfaction. Oxford, Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Ramírez, C.C., Niemeyer, H.M. (2000) The influence of previous experience and starvation on aphid feeding behavior. Journal of Insect Behavior 13, 699–709.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ramírez, C.C., Caballero, P.P. & Niemeyer, H.M. (1999) Effect of previous exposure to hydroxamic acids in probing behavior of aphid Sitobion fragariae on wheat seedlings. Journal of Chemical Ecology 25, 771–779.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ramírez, C.C., Fuentes-Contreras, E., Rodríguez, L.C. & Niemeyer, H.M. (2000) Pseudoreplication and its frequency in olfactometric laboratory studies. Journal of Chemical Ecology 26, 1426–1431.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Renwick, J.A.A. (2001) Variable diets and changing taste in insect–plant relationships. Journal of Chemical Ecology 27, 1063–1076.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Semtner, P.J., Tilson, W.M. & Dara, S.K. (1998) Performance of the tobacco aphid (Homoptera: Aphididae) on various host plants. Journal of Entomological Science 33, 180–195.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Siegel, S. & Castellan, N.J. (1988) Nonparametric statistics for the behavioral sciences. Singapore, McGraw-Hill Book Co.Google Scholar
Sokal, R.R. & Rohlf, F.J. (1998) Biometry. 3rd edn New York, W.H. Freeman and Company.Google Scholar
Stephens, D.W. & Krebs, J.R. (1986) Foraging theory. New Jersey, Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Szentesi, Á. & Jermy, T. (1990) The role of experience in host plant choice by phytophagous insects. pp. 39–74 in Bernays, E.A., (Eds.) Insect–plant interactions, Vol. 2, Boca Raton, Florida, CRC Press.Google Scholar
Tosh, C.R., Powell, G. & Hardie, J. (2003) Decision making by generalist and specialist aphids with the same genotype. Journal of Insect Physiology 49, 659–669.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Van Emden, H.F., Eastop, V.F., Hughes, R.D. & Way, M.J. (1969) The ecology of Myzus persicae. Annual Review of Entomology 14, 197–270.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vargas, R.R., Troncoso, A.J., Tapia, D.H., Olivares-Donoso, R. & Niemeyer, H.M. (2004) Behavioural differences during host selection between the generalist and tobacco-specialized subspecies of Myzus persicae. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata (in press).Google Scholar
Weber, G. (1986) Ecological genetics of host plant exploitation in the green peach aphid, Myzus persicae. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata 40, 161–168.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, I.S., Dewar, A.M., Dixon, A.F.G. & Thornhill, W.A. (2000) Alate production by aphids on sugar beet: how likely is the evolution of sugar beet-specific biotypes. Journal of Applied Ecology 37, 40–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zar, J.H. (1996) Biostatistical analysis. 3rd edn New Jersey, Prentice Hall.Google Scholar