Aphid soldiers, altruistic larvae that protect the colony from predators, are an example of highly social behaviour in an insect group with a natural history different from the eusocial Hymenoptera and Isoptera. Aphids therefore allow independent tests of theory developed to explain the evolution of eusociality. Although soldiers have been discovered in five tribes from two families, the number...

Most pathogens exist within complicated food webs of interacting hosts, vectors, competitors, and predators. Although theory has demonstrated a variety of mechanisms by which predation and competition in food webs can indirectly control infection risk in hosts, there have until now been no experimental tests of this theory. We sampled the effect of long-term exclusion of large vertebrate herbiv...

Predators and plant resistance may act together to control herbivorous arthropod populations or antagonistically, which would reduce the control of pest populations. In a field experiment we enhanced predation by adding simulated leaf domatia to plants. Leaf domatia are small structures that often harbor predaceous arthropods that are potentially beneficial to the plant. We also manipulated hos...

The tripartite interactions in a pathosystem involving wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), the Barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV), and the BYDV vector aphid Sitobion avenae were studied under field conditions to determine the impact of these interactions on aphid populations, virus pathology and grain yield. Wheat varietal resistance to BYDV and aphids varied among the three wheat varieties studied ove...

The within-plant distribution of soybean aphid, Aphis glycines Matsumura has been attributed to various causes, yet it is unclear which factor or combination of factors most influence aphid within-plant distribution. Understanding soybean aphid distribution within the soybean canopy is important both in developing sampling programs and in evaluating injury. Because natural enemies have the pote...