Aphid

About: Aphid is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 11380 publications have been published within this topic receiving 229721 citations. The topic is also known as: Aphidoidea & plant lice.

Oviposition and host‐feeding patterns in Aphelinus asychis (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae) at different aphid densities

Abstract: . 1. The patterns of host-feeding and oviposition were examined in Aphelinus asychis Walker, which had been provided with second-instar pea aphids as hosts. 2. Female wasps responded to increasing host density (between one and forty aphids for 24 h) with an increasing tendency to oviposit rather than to feed. Superparasitism occurred at all aphid densities, even when unparasitized aphids were available. 3. Aphids intended for feeding were paralysed and died. Wasps did not feed on and oviposit in the same aphid. 4. Feeding to satiation lasted between 4 min and 42 min. Females that had starved for ≰18 h generally deposited one or more eggs before feeding again, while the reverse was true in wasps that had starved for 21 h. 5. The host-feeding behaviour of A. asychis is determined by a female's nutritional status. At low rates of host encounter, the anhydropic eggs may be resorbed. This reproductive strategy conforms to the destructive non-concurrent type among the Hymenoptera.

Aphid genotypes, plant phenotypes, and genetic diversity: a demographic analysis of experimental data.

Abstract: It is well known that many populations possess substantial amounts of electrophoretically detectable genetic variation. There is accumulating evidence that this variation has adaptive significance, and that environmental heterogeneity is an important factor in the maintenance of this variation (see Hedrick et al., 1976, for a review). In the case of clonal organisms, genetic diversity can be maintained in a population if no clone is relatively most fit in all environments. This argument may be applied to a variety of ecological relationships, including that of an aphid to its host plant. Specifically, we hypothesize that there is an interaction between aphid genotypes and host plant phenotypes such that no aphid clone is relatively most fit on all host phenotypes. The plausibility of this hypothesis is supported by three recent studies of natural populations of phytophagous insects (Edmunds and Alstad, 1978; Mitter et al., 1979; Moran, 1981), and by the vast literature on crop plants and their arthropod pests (e.g., Cartier, 1963; Hatchett and Gallun, 1970; Lowe, 1974; Gould, 1979). In this paper we report on an experiment designed to test the hypothesis of interaction between aphid genotypes and host plant phenotypes, using a new methodology for the analysis of life history data (Lenski and Service, 1982).

Sweet problems: insect traits defining the limits to dietary sugar utilisation by the pea aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisum.

Abstract: Plant phloem sap is an extreme diet for animals, partly because of its high and variable sugar content. The physiological and feeding traits of the pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum that define the upper and lower limits to the range of dietary sucrose concentrations utilised by this insect were determined principally using chemically defined diets containing 0.125-1.5 mol l(-1) sucrose. On the diets with 0.125 mol l(-1) and 1.5 mol l(-1) sucrose, the aphids died as larvae within 8 and 14 days of birth, respectively. On the other diets, 60-96% of aphids developed to adulthood, and the 0.5 mol l(-1) and 0.75 mol l(-1) diets supported the highest fecundity. The diet with 0.125 mol l(-1) sucrose was ingested at 36% of the rate of the 0.25 mol l(-1) sucrose diet, but >90% of ingested sucrose-carbon was assimilated on both diets. This suggests that the lower limit is dictated by the aphid feeding response, specifically, a requirement for a minimal concentration of sucrose for sustained feeding. The haemolymph osmotic pressure of aphids on diets with 0.125-1.5 mol l(-1) sucrose was up to 68% higher than on 0.125-1.0 mol l(-1) sucrose diets, but diet consumption and sucrose-carbon assimilation was not reduced on the very high sucrose diets relative to 1.0 mol l(-1) sucrose. This suggests that failure of the osmoregulatory capacity of the insects on high sucrose diets may define the upper limit to the range of dietary sucrose utilised by the aphids. The mean haemolymph osmotic pressure of aphids on plants with phloem sap containing 0.37-0.97 mol l(-1) sucrose was 1.61+/-0.063 MPa (mean +/- s.e.m.), not significantly different from that (1.47+/-0.059 MPa) on diets with 0.25-1.0 mol l(-1) sucrose. It is concluded that the osmoregulatory response of aphids to diets and plants are comparable, and, more generally, that the feeding and osmoregulatory capabilities of the aphids are compatible with the phloem sugar levels commonly encountered by aphids feeding on plants.

Conservation biological control of rosy apple aphid, Dysaphis plantaginea (Passerini), in eastern North America

Abstract: Because of the potentially serious damage rosy apple aphid, Dysaphis plantaginea (Passerini) (Homoptera: Aphididae), can cause to apple fruit and branch development, prophylactic insecticides are often used for control. If biological control could be relied on, the amount of pesticide applied in orchards could be reduced. This study examined biological control of rosy apple aphid in eastern West Virginia and the potential for enhancement through conservation biological control, in particular, the effect of interplanting extrafloral nectar-bearing peach trees. By 20 d after first bloom, only 2% of fundatrices initially present survived to form colonies based on regression of data from 687 colonies. Exclusion studies showed that many of the early colonies were probably destroyed by predation; the major predator responsible seemed to be adult Harmonia axyridis (Pallas) (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae). Mortality before apple bloom was most important in controlling rosy apple aphid population growth but by itself is not sufficiently reliable to prevent economic injury. Interplanting of extrafloral nectar-bearing trees did not increase biological control, and interplanting with 50% trees with extrafloral nectar glands reduced biological control. The number of leaf curl colonies in the 50% interplanted orchards was lower than in monoculture orchards, suggesting a preference of alate oviparae for more diverse habitats, supporting the resource concentration hypothesis but not at a level sufficient to prevent injury. Predation and parasitism after the formation of leaf curl colonies was not adequate to control rosy apple aphid populations.

An aphid-ant interaction : effects on different trophic levels

Abstract: The interaction between the aphid Aphis coreopsidis (Thomas) (Hemiptera, Aphididae) and the ant Camponotus sp.1 (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) on the plant Bidens pilosa L. (Asteraceae) was studied. We manipulated the presence of ants and other insects to understand the effects of this aphid-ant interaction on: (a) the growth of A. coreopsidis population, (b) the seed production of B. pilosa, (c) the density of predator spiders. The growth of the A. coreopsidis population was positively affected by attending ants, showing greater increase on ant-present control plants than on ant-excluded plants. The density of aphids on control plants was positively correlated with the density of attending ants, while the density of aphids on ant-excluded plants was positively correlated with the density of spiders. Plants with ants had a significantly lower quantity of viable seeds than those without ants. These results show that: (a) the presence of Camponotus ants reduces the number of predator spiders on B. pilosa, (b) the population of A. coreopsidis increases when attended by the ants, (c) this increase in aphid density as a result of ant attendance reduces the number of viable seeds of B. pilosa, and thus (d) an interspecific interaction between two species can have an indirect negative fitness effect on other partners.