Environmental factors can lead individuals down different developmental pathways giving rise to distinct phenotypes (phenotypic plasticity). The production of winged or unwinged morphs in aphids is an example of two alternative developmental pathways. Dispersal is paramount in aphids that often have a metapopulation structure, where local subpopulations frequently go extinct, such as the specia...

The entomopathogenic fungus Pandora neoaphidis is a recognized pathogen of aphids, causes natural epizootics in aphid populations, and interacts and competes with aphid predators and parasitoids. Survival of entomophthoralean fungi in periods of unsuitable weather conditions or lack of appropriate host insects is accomplished mainly by thick-walled resting spores (zygospores or azygospores). Ho...

How environmental change affects species abundances depends on both the food web within which species interact and their potential to evolve. Using field experiments, we investigated both ecological and evolutionary responses of pea aphids (Acyrthosiphon pisum), a common agricultural pest, to increased frequency of episodic heat shocks. One predator species ameliorated the decrease in aphid pop...

In the first quantitative study of an endemic New Zealand aphid, the only known field populations of the rare Paradoxaphis plagianthi were monitored for two years from 1999 to 2001. The species appears to be anholocyclic, persisting viviparously throughout the year on its deciduous host tree, the lowland ribbonwood (Plagianthus regius). Local aphid abundance increased rapidly in spring as new l...

The prevalent way aphids accomplish colony defense against natural enemies is a mutualistic relationship with ants or the occurrence of a specialised soldier caste typical for eusocial aphids, or even both. Despite a group-living life style of those aphid species lacking these defense lines, communal defense against natural predators has not yet been observed there. Individuals of Aphis nerii (...

BIOLOGY/ECOLOGY Dispersal mechanisms Flight range of winged adults is very limited. Long-range dispersal of eggs, immature stages and adults is manmediated with the transport of infested plant material. Reproduction The taxonomic status of this alien aphid is problematic, and hence the interpretation of biological information is difficult. Moreover, different biotypes exhibiting host preference...

Soybean aphid, Aphis glycines Matsumura (Hemiptera: Aphididae), is a serious pest of soybean, Glycine max (L.) Merr., in the North Central United States. Current management recommendations rely on the application of insecticides based on an economic threshold (ET) of 250 aphids per plant. Natural enemies are important in slowing the increase of aphid populations and can prevent them from reachi...

The prediction of pest-control functioning by multi-predator communities is hindered by the non-additive nature of species functioning. Such non-additivity, commonly termed an emergent multi-predator effect, is known to be affected by elements of the ecological context, such as the structure and composition of vegetation, in addition to the traits of the predators themselves. Here we report mes...

"Secondary predation" occurs when one predator feeds on a second predator, which has in turn eaten a target prey. Detection of prey remains within predators using monoclonal antibodies cannot distinguish between primary and secondary predation, potentially leading to quantitative and qualitative food chain errors. We report the first fully replicated experiments to measure secondary predation e...