Here we present the results of the first year of our research targeted at quantifying the landscape-level movement patterns of GWSS and its natural enemies. We showed that protein markers can be rapidly acquired and retained on insects for several weeks after marking directly in the field. Specifically, we sprayed a large citrus plot and a large olive tree plot with different inexpensive protei...

Prey should adjust their defences against natural enemies to match their current level of risk and balance other needs. This is particularly important when optimal defences represent trade-offs, as is the case with many predator-induced trait-mediated indirect effects (TMIEs) that are antagonistic to those promoting host resistance to parasites and pathogens. However, trade-offs may depend on w...

Aphids are one of the most serious pests of crops worldwide, causing major yield and economic losses. To control aphids, natural enemies could be an option but their efficacy is sometimes limited by their dispersal in natural environment. Here we report the first isolation of a bacterium from the pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum honeydew, Staphylococcus sciuri, which acts as a kairomone enhancing ...

Conservation biological control emphasizes natural and other non-crop vegetation as a source of natural enemies to focal crops. There is an unmet need for better methods to identify the types of vegetation that are optimal to support specific natural enemies that may colonize the crops. Here we explore the commonality of the spider assemblage-considering abundance and diversity (H)-in brassica ...

There is increasing evidence that Aphis glycines Matsumara (Hemiptera: Aphididae) populations are negatively impacted by endemic natural enemies within North America. In Iowa, surveys of natural enemies in soybean, Glycine max (L.) Merr., conducted before the arrival of A. glycines revealed a number of species that may contribute to their mortality. We used several sampling methods to determine...

A greater diversity of natural enemies can in some cases disrupt prey suppression, particularly when natural enemies engage in intraguild predation, where natural enemies compete with and prey upon each other. However, empirical studies have often demonstrated enhanced prey suppression despite intraguild predation. A recent theoretical study proposed the hypothesis that, when the intermediate p...

Population interactions among mosquitoes in the Culex vishnui subgroup, which are vectors of Japanese Encephalitis, and their natural enemies were studied in Pondicherry, India. We tested the hypothesis that the breakdown of interactions between the larvae and their natural enemies due to drought followed by rain was responsible for the sudden increase in the vector population above the thresho...

The pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum Harris has been shown to produce an increasing proportion of winged morphs among its offspring when exposed to natural enemies, in particular hoverfly larvae, lacewing larvae, adult and larval ladybirds and aphidiid parasitoids. While these results suggest that wing induction in the presence of predators and parasitoids is a general response of the pea aphid, t...

The expansion of eucalypt forestry worldwide has been accompanied by accidental and deliberate introductions of Australian insects associated with eucalypts. Local insect species have also colonized introduced eucalypts in many regions. This situation provides a unique opportunity to observe the development of new insect communities across trophic levels. Here the history of Australian invaders...

Herbivores employ a variety of chemical, behavioural and morphological defences to reduce mortality from natural enemies. In some caterpillars the head capsules of successive instars are retained and stacked on top of each other and it has been suggested that this could serve as a defence against natural enemies. We tested this hypothesis by comparing the survival of groups of the gumleaf skele...