A coffee agroecosystem model: III. Parasitoids of the coffee berry borer ( Hypothenemus hampei )

Abstract

a b s t r a c tParasitoids native to tropical Africa have been released in the Americas for the biological control of the coffee berry borer (CBB), but their establishment has been checkered. A tritrophic distributed maturation time model for the coffee plant -CBB -three parasitoids (Phymastichus coffea, Cephalonomia stephanoderis, Prorops nasuta) system was proposed by Gutierrez et al. (1998). Based on this pioneering work, and improved models for coffee and CBB (Rodríguez et al., 2011(Rodríguez et al., , 2013, we present an updated version of the parasitoid models. The new elements in this analysis include:1. New data on the biology and behavior of the parasitoids are added. 2. A fourth parasitoid (Cephalonomia hyalinipennis) is added to the system. 3. Interspecific competitive interactions among parasitoids (e.g., dyadic contests, intra-guild predation and hyperparasitism) and their effects on the control of CBB are explored.Because field data on the effectiveness of the parasitoids on CBB control is sparse, we assessed the efficacy of the parasitoids for control of CBB heuristically. The results are compared to prior analyses, and are related to field observations. Specifically, we found:1. Control of CBB by betilid parasitoids (Cephalonomia stephanoderis, Cephalonomia hyalinipennis and Prorops nasuta) is ineffective because of their low reproductive capacity relative to CBB, their host-feeding behavior, and phenological mismatches with CBB life stages. 2. Of the parasitoids, the eulophid P. coffea has the greatest potential to suppress CBB infestation levels, though the fungal pathogen B. bassiana and insecticides are reported to have detrimental effects on its establishment and dynamics.

A Novel Method to Evaluate the Reproductive Potential of Phymastichus coffea (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) in Hypothenemus hampei (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) Under Laboratory Conditions

“…They concluded that only P. coffea has the demographic characteristics to regulate CBB populations. Rodriguez et al (2013, 2017) updated the coffee–CBB–parasitoids relationship simulation model developed by Gutierrez et al (1998) and concluded that control of CBB by augmentative releases of parasitoids in the Americas is neither effective nor stable and the introduction of additional bethylids will be detrimental. They suggested that P. coffea could provide substantial but insufficient control in zones with narrow flowering periods that concentrate the harvest periods including Londrina, PR and Brazil.…”

The coffee agroecosystem: bio-economic analysis of coffee berry borer control (Hypothenemus hampei)

“…An early multitrophic study of the coffee agroecosystem using the mechanistic physiologically based demographic modeling (PBDM) approach 19 , 20 demonstrated that CBB parasitoids alone were not efficient in controlling CBB 21 . Those findings were confirmed in subsequent restudy of the coffee system using PBDMs that introduced extensive new data from Colombia on the dynamics of coffee growth and development 22 – 24 , the effects of solar radiation on floral bud initiation; effects of leaf water potential on breaking dormancy in flower buds; effects of low temperature on photosynthesis and defoliation; enhanced CBB biology and population dynamics including the effects of intraspecific competition, temperature and rainfall on CBB adult emergence; the impact of baited traps for CBB control; and refinements of parasitoid biology and interactions (i.e. intra and inter competition).…”

“…Results of Rodríguez et al . 24 show that C. hyalinipennis , interacts negatively with the other betilids and provides poor control of CBB, and this argues against its introduction, and hence was not considered here. The present work explores only the performance of C. stephanoderis , P. nasuta and P. coffea .…”

“…The control components in the bio-economic analysis are described below.

Figure 1 Coffee system with all the components included (modified from Rodriguez et al 24 ). The complete system is embedded in a climate envelope which drives all the development and interaction variables using a PBDM (see text).

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“…Effect of baited traps on capturing migrant adult females (not included in this paper based on results in Rodríguez et al 23 ) ( D ). The third trophic level is represented by four CBB parasitoids; the adult eulophid parasitoid Phymastichus coffee ( E ) and three bethylid parasitoids and their interactions, Cephalonomia stephanoderis , Cephalonomia hyalinipennis (not included in this paper based on results in Rodríguez et al 24 ) and Prorops nasuta ( F ). Three active ingredients (a.i.)…”