Amblyseius swirskii: What made this predatory mite such a successful biocontrol agent?

Abstract

The predatory mite Amblyseius swirskii quickly became one of the most successful biocontrol agents in protected cultivation after its introduction into the market in 2005 and is now released in more than 50 countries. There are several key factors contributing to this success: (1) it can control several major pests including the western flower thrips, Frankliniella occidentalis, the whiteflies Bemisia tabaci and Trialeurodes vaporariorum and the broad mite, Polyphagotarsonemus latus, simultaneously in vegetables and ornamental crops; (2) it can develop and reproduce feeding on non-prey food sources such as pollen, which allows populations of the predator to build up on plants before the pests are present and to persist in the crop during periods when prey is scarce or absent; and (3) it can be easily reared on factitious prey, which allows economic mass production. However, despite the fact that A. swirskii provides growers with a robust control method, external demands were initially a key factor in promoting the use of this predator, particularly in Spain. In 2006, when exports of fresh vegetables from Spain were stopped due to the presence of pesticide residues, growers were forced to look for alternatives to chemical control. This resulted in the massive adoption of biological control-based integrated pest management programmes based on the use of A. swirskii in sweet pepper. Biological control increased from 5 % in 2005, 1 year before A. swirskii was commercially released, to almost 100 % of a total 6,000 ha of protected sweet pepper in Spain within 3 years. Later, it was demonstrated that A. swirskii was equally effective in other crops and countries, resulting in extensive worldwide use of A. swirskii in greenhouses.

Efficiency against the Two-spotted spider mite Tetranychus urticae and prey-age-related choice of three predatory mites

“…Predator mites -We tested three phytoseiid predatory mites, which are commercially available biocontrol agents (purchased from Árpád Biokontroll Ltd, Hungary) and are frequently used against the two-spotted spider mite (Van Lenteren & Woets 1988, Calvo et al 2015, Vantornhout et al 2004. Phytoseiulus persimilis is a fast moving, type I specialist predator (McMurtry & Croft 1997, subtype Ia, see McMurtry et al 2013) that can easily move within the spider mites' web because of adequate morphological adaptations (e.g.…”

“…long dorsal setae; Sabelis & Bakker 1992). Amblyseius swirskii is a type III generalist predator (subtype IIIb, McMurtry et al 2013), which can feed on several pest species and even pollen, which made it become a widely used control agent in recent years (see Calvo et al 2015). Iphiseius degenerans is another type III generalist predator (subtype IIIc, and Type IV, see McMurtry et al 2013) that also preys on spider mites and consumes a wide range of alternative food sources (e.g.…”

Alternative food and biological control by generalist predatory mites: the case of Amblyseius swirskii

“…The first contribution (Calvo et al 2015) illustrates that the current success of A. swirskii in Europe was a matter of being at the right place at the right time, and in the right quantities: the predator became commercially available when German consumers demanded Spanish products with fewer pesticide residues. This forced Spanish growers to change from chemical to biological control with this predatory mite in just a few years.…”

Compatibilidad de Eretmocerus mundus Mercet (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae) y Amblyseius swirskii Athias-Henriot (Acari: Phytoseiidae), importantes enemigos naturales de la mosca blanca Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) en cultivos hortícolas, con nuevas barreras físicas selectivas y modernos plaguicidas

“…Principalmente se alimenta de larvas de trips y de huevos y ninfas de primeros estadios de moscas blancas, y en menor medida de arañas blancas y amarillas. En cultivos como berenjena, pimiento y gerbera, A. swirskii puede sobrevivir con polen como fuente de alimento (McMurtry & Croft, 1997;Malais & Ravensberg, 2006;Ferragut et al, 2010;Lee & Gillespie, 2011;Calvo et al, 2015).…”

“…En España, este ácaro comenzó a estar disponible comercialmente en el año 2005 (van der Blom, 2007;Calvo et al, 2015). En la época del auge del control biológico en España, en cultivos de pimiento, B. tabaci era controlada principalmente por el parasitoide E. mundus y F. occidentalis por el chinche depredador O. laevigatus.…”