Topic
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.
Papers published on a yearly basis
Papers
More filters
••
TL;DR: Recent advances in understanding of the identity and composition of aphid alarm signals are reviewed; their biosynthesis and production; their effects on conspecifics; their role as cues for other insect species; and their potential application for the management of pest organisms are reviewed.
123 citations
••
TL;DR: At a pan-European scale, the EXAMINE observation network has provided evidence for an increase in the number of aphid species present over the last 30 years and for earlier spring flights and a review of the principal effects of global warming on aphid communities.
123 citations
••
TL;DR: It is hypothesized that ant-attended aphids are under intense selective pressures that act against aphid clones which fail to attract many ants, so that aphids have developed an adaptive mechanism to allocate a larger fraction of resources to the honeydew when they are requested to do so by the ants in order to ensure the ants' consistent visitation.
Abstract: The defensive effects of ants against aphid predators have been well documented in the mutualistic relationship of aphids and their attending ants. However, it is not clear whether ant attendance has any direct effect on the aphids' growth and reproduction. Through field experiments, this study evaluates the benefits and, in particular, the costs of ant attendance to aphid colonies, focusing on the drepanosiphid aphid Tuberculatus quercicola which is associated with the Daimyo oak, Quercus dentata, and which is always attended by the red wood ant Formica yessensis. Ant attendance was clearly beneficial to the aphid; the exclusion of ants led to a significant increase in the extinction rate of aphid colonies. However, MANOVA and randomized block ANOVA indicated that in colonies continuously attended by ants, aphids had significantly smaller body size and produced a smaller number of embryos than in colonies isolated from ants when they were reared under homogeneous host conditions free from natural enemies. Thus, ant attendance had a negative influence on the growth and reproduction of the aphids, even though it contributed to the greater longevity of the aphid colonies. We hypothesize that ant-attended aphids are under intense selective pressures that act against aphid clones which fail to attract many ants, so that aphids have developed an adaptive mechanism to allocate a larger fraction of resources to the honeydew when they are requested to do so by the ants in order to ensure the ants' consistent visitation.
122 citations
••
TL;DR: Evidence is presented which suggests fecundity is reduced the day after an aphid disperses, and the significance of dispersal by apterous aphids is discussed in the light of evidence presented.
Abstract: SUMMARY (1) This paper examines the influence of predators on the dispersal of apterous pea aphids in the laboratory and field. (2) Individual pea aphids can be placed in one of two categories, searchers and runners, depending upon the behaviour they exhibit after dropping from their host plant. (3) In field cages, pea aphids readily disperse to new host plants in the presence of predators. Dispersal of apterous aphids is rare when active predators are absent. (4) Evidence is presented which suggests fecundity is reduced the day after an aphid disperses. (5) The distance dispersed by aphid nymphs is positively correlated with the density of aphids on the plant the aphid leaves. (6) The significance of dispersal by apterous aphids is discussed in the light of evidence presented.
122 citations
••
TL;DR: The fate of sucrose, the major nutrient of an aphid's natural food, was explored by radiolabeling, and the metabolic abilities of aphid are discussed from an adaptive point of view, with respect to their symbiotic status.
Abstract: The fate of sucrose, the major nutrient of an aphid's natural food, was explored by radiolabeling in the pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum. To investigate the influence of nitrogen quality of food on amino acid neosynthesis, pea aphids were reared on two artificial diets differing in their amino acid composition. The first (diet A) had an equilibrated amino acid balance, similar to that derived from analysis of aphid carcass, and the other (diet B) had an unbalanced amino acid composition similar to that of legume phloem sap. Aphids grown on either diet expired the same quantity of sucrose carbon as CO(2), amounting to 25-30 % of the ingested sucrose catabolized in oxidation pathways. On diet A, the aphids excreted through honeydew about twice as much sucrose carbon as on diet B (amounting to 12.6 % of the ingested sucrose for diet A and 8.4 % for diet B), while amounts of sucrose carbons incorporated into exuviae were almost identical (1.9 % of the ingested sucrose on diet A and 2.7 % on diet B). There was also no difference in the amounts of sucrose carbon incorporated into the aphid tissues, which represented close to 50 % of the ingested sucrose. Sucrose carbons in the aphid tissues were mainly incorporated into lipids and the quantities involved were the same in aphids reared on either diet. On diet B, we observed neosynthesis of all protein amino acids from sucrose carbons and, for the first time in an aphid, we directly demonstrated the synthesis of the essential amino acids leucine, valine and phenylalanine. Amino acid neosynthesis from sucrose was significantly higher on diet B (11.5 % of ingested sucrose carbons) than on diet A (5.4 %). On diet A, neosynthesis of most of the amino acids was significantly diminished, and synthesis of two of them (histidine and arginine) was completely suppressed. The origin of amino acids egested through honeydew was determined from the specific activity of the free amino acid pool in the aphid. Aphids are able to adjust to variation in dietary amino acids by independent egestion of each amino acid. While more than 80 % of excreted nitrogen was from food amino acids, different amino acids were excreted in honeydew of aphids reared on the two diets. The conversion yields of dietary sucrose into aphid amino acids determined in this study were combined with those obtained previously by studying the fate of amino acids in pea aphids reared on diet A. The origin of all the amino acid carbons in aphid tissues was thus computed, and the metabolic abilities of aphid are discussed from an adaptive point of view, with respect to their symbiotic status.
122 citations