Begging signals of offspring are condition-dependent cues that are usually predicted to display information about the short-term need (i.e. hunger) to which parents respond by allocating more food. However, recent models and experiments have revealed that parents, depending on the species and context, may respond to signals of quality (i.e. offspring reproductive value) rather than need. Despite the critical importance of this distinction for life history and conflict resolution theory, there is still limited knowledge of alternative functions of offspring signals. In this study, we investigated the communication between offspring and caring females of the common earwig, Forficula auricularia, hypothesizing that offspring chemical cues display information about nutritional condition to which females respond in terms of maternal food provisioning. Consistent with the prediction for a signal of quality we found that mothers exposed to chemical cues from well-fed nymphs foraged significantly more and allocated food to more nymphs compared with females exposed to solvent (control) or chemical cues from poorly fed nymphs. Chemical analysis revealed significant differences in the relative quantities of specific cuticular hydrocarbon compounds between treatments. To our knowledge, this study demonstrates for the first time that an offspring chemical signal reflects nutritional quality and influences maternal care.

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Drosophila santomea and Drosophila yakuba are two sister species inhabiting Saõ Tomé island. Previous studies showed that both species display strong reproductive isolation, although they can produce a few viable hybrids. Our study tried to understand the mechanism of this ethological isolation between two allopatric strains. A strong sexual isolation was confirmed, with a marked asymmetry. Comparisons of latency times to either courtship or copulation suggest that males do not discriminate females, whereas D. yakuba females, but not D. santomea females, accept their homospecifics more quickly. Cuticular hydrocarbon compositions of both species and sexes were also established with gas chromatography (GC) and GC/mass spectrometry analysis. All have (Z)-7-tricosene as their major compound. There are several quantitative differences between species for few minor compounds. The largest difference concerns n-heneicosane, which is more abundant in D. santomea than in D. yakuba flies (up to seven times more between males). A similar quantitative difference was also found in a pair of sympatric strains. Furthermore, D. yakuba males artificially perfumed with n-heneicosane were discriminated negatively by D. yakuba females, suggesting a role for this compound in the sexual isolation between these two species.

Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum (CLso) is an unculturable bacterium vectored by the tomato potato psyllid (TPP) Bactericera cockerelli and has been associated with Zebra chip disease in potato and with other economically relevant symptoms observed in solanaceous crops. By altering their host and vector's biological system, pathogens are able to induce changes that benefit them by increasing their transmission rate. Understanding these changes can enable better targeting of mechanisms to control pathogen outbreaks. Here, we explored how the CLso infectious status affects the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) of the tomato plant, and whether the CLso infectious status of TPP influences host plant settlement. These chemical and behavioral changes can ultimately affect the rate of encounter between the host and the vector. Results from headspace volatile collection of tomato plants showed that CLso infected tomato plants emitted a qualitatively and quantitatively different blend of VOCs compared to sham-infected plants. By a factorial experiment, we showed that CLso negative (CLso-) TPP preferred to settle 70 % more often on infected tomato plants, while CLso positive (CLso+) TPP were found 68 % more often on sham-infected tomato plants. These results provide new evidence in favor of both host and vector manipulation by CLso.

Using these methodologies to identify relevant bioactive compounds associated with honey bee pollination, plant breeding programmes should also consider selecting for floral traits attractive to honey bees to improve crop pollination for enhanced seed yield. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry.

The sterile insect technique (SIT) potentially provides a socially acceptable approach for insect eradication of new pest incursions. The light brown apple moth, Epiphyas postvittana (Walker) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae), was discovered in Berkeley (CA, USA) in 2006, leading to an incursion response that included this technology. In this study, we assessed factors affecting mating success from a bisex release of irradiated moths: effects of radiation dose on male multiple mating, male flight competition, female sex pheromone titre and attractiveness of irradiated females to males, and identification of successful mating in vineyards of either irradiated or wild males (identified by isotope analysis of spermatophores from sentinel females). There was a significant negative relationship between male radiation dose and mating frequency. In head-to-head flights of irradiated males against non-irradiated males to a pheromone lure in a wind tunnel, irradiated males reached the lure first only 31% of the time. With increasing radiation dose, the production of the major sex pheromone component in females, (E)-11-tetradecenyl acetate, dropped, from 0.7 AE 0.1 ng per female in non-irradiated females to 0.2 AE 0.07 ng per female when irradiated at 300 Gy. Male catch was reduced to 11% of control females in traps containing females irradiated at 300 Gy. Isotope analysis of spermatophores found in the bursa copulatrix of females indicated that mating success of irradiated males inside the live (entry-only) traps containing virgin females was lower (13.1 AE 3.3%) than suggested by male catch (21.2 AE 3.8%) in pheromone traps, the current standard for assessing field competitiveness. Impacts of irradiation on male and female moth fitness should be taken into account to improve estimates of irradiated to wild male E. postvittana overflooding ratios needed for population suppression.

Approximately one-third of our food globally comes from insect-pollinated crops. The dependence on pollinators has been linked to yield instability, which could potentially become worse in a changing climate. Insect-pollinated crops produced via hybrid breeding (20% of fruit and vegetable production globally) are especially at risk as they are even more reliant on pollinators than open-pollinated plants. We already observe a wide range of fruit and seed yields between different cultivars of the same crop species, and it is unknown how existing variation will be affected in a changing climate. In this study, we examined how three hybrid carrot varieties with differential performance in the field responded to three temperature regimes (cooler than the historical average, average, and warmer that the historical average). We tested how temperature affected the plants' ability to set seed (seed set, pollen viability) as well as attract pollinators (nectar composition, floral volatiles). We found that there were significant intrinsic differences in nectar phenolics, pollen viability, and seed set between the carrot varieties, and that higher temperatures did not exaggerate those differences. However, elevated temperature did negatively affect several characteristics relating to the attraction and reward of pollinators (lower volatile production and higher nectar sugar concentration) across all varieties, which may decrease the attractiveness of this already pollinator-limited crop. Given existing predictions of lower pollinator populations in a warmer climate, reduced attractiveness would add yet another challenge to future food production.

Parent-offspring conflict theory predicts the evolution of offspring solicitation signals that can influence the amount and/or the duration of parental investment. Short-term effects of offspring solicitation signals on parental food provisioning have been widely demonstrated, but persistent effects of offspring signals on the maintenance of parental care have been rarely studied. Also, the relation between the amount of care provided to the brood and how it is distributed among individual offspring within a brood is not well enough understood. Here, we investigated in the European earwig (Forficula auricularia) the effects of offspring condition-dependent chemical signals on the maintenance of maternal care among broods and the distribution of maternal food within broods. Mothers were isolated from their brood for 3 days and continuously exposed to chemical signals extracted from broods of experimentally manipulated nutritional state. After re-introducing mothers to their brood, a range of maternal behaviours were quantified. We found that earwig mothers groomed their offspring significantly more after exposure to chemical extract from high-food brood in comparison with mothers exposed to extract from low-food brood, which in turn displayed significantly more aggressive behaviour. Furthermore, we manipulated offspring individual nutritional condition within the brood to evaluate the effect of offspring state on the within-brood food distribution. Within broods, poorly fed individuals received significantly more food than well-fed individuals, probably due to scramble competition. These results show that earwig nymphs express multi-component conditiondependent signals and behaviours differentially affecting maternal care provisioned to the brood and the distribution of care within broods.