Biological control, which uses natural enemies to reduce pest populations, is a non-polluting powerful method to manage impacts of (invasive) pests. Currently, polyphagous mirid predators are increasingly used in commercial, augmentative biological control. Information about their foraging behaviour is essential, especially if one intends to use several natural enemies for control of one or more pests in a crop, to detect if negative intraguild effects occur. We studied a case of intraguild predation (IGP) involving a predator, Macrolophus basicornis, of the worldwide invasive South American tomato leaf miner Tuta absoluta, and explored how this predator deals with prey parasitized by Trichogramma pretiosum. Behavioural observations show that M. basicornis predators contacted significantly fewer old, parasitized eggs of T. absoluta than recently parasitized ones. Olfactometer tests revealed that predators could smell differences between volatiles of tomato leaves infested with eggs of different quality to locate suitable prey. They preferred volatiles from leaflets with unparasitized eggs above control leaflets, and, moreover, preferred volatiles from leaflets with recently parasitized eggs over volatiles of leaflets with 5-day old parasitized eggs. When predators and parasitoids are used together to control T. absoluta, parasitoids should be introduced days before predators to prevent high levels of IGP.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.