Big Brother is Watching: Studying Insect Predation in the Age of Digital Surveillance

Grieshop, Matthew J.; Werling, Benjamin P.; Buehrer, Krista; Perrone, Julia; Isaacs, Rufus; Landis, Doug

doi:10.1093/ae/58.3.172

Cited by 57 publications

(52 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…Video observations were made using bullet-type active night vision QOCDC video cameras (Q-See, Anaheim CA) mated to four channel QH25DVR digital video recorders (Q-See, Anaheim CA) and powered by a 12V deep cycle marine battery. Video equipment is fully described in Grieshop et al [28]. …”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Floral Scent Mimicry and Vector-Pathogen Associations in a Pseudoflower-Inducing Plant Pathogen System

et al. 2016

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Several fungal plant pathogens induce ‘pseudoflowers’ on their hosts to facilitate insect-mediated transmission of gametes and spores. When spores must be transmitted to host flowers to complete the fungal life cycle, we predict that pseudoflowers should evolve traits that mimic flowers and attract the most effective vectors in the flower-visiting community. We quantified insect visitation to flowers, healthy leaves and leaves infected with Monilinia vaccinii-corymbosi (Mvc), the causative agent of mummy berry disease of blueberry. We developed a nested PCR assay for detecting Mvc spores on bees, flies and other potential insect vectors. We also collected volatiles from blueberry flowers, healthy leaves and leaves infected with Mvc, and experimentally manipulated specific pathogen-induced volatiles to assess attractiveness to potential vectors. Bees and flies accounted for the majority of contacts with flowers, leaves infected with Mvc and healthy leaves. Flowers were contacted most often, while there was no difference between bee or fly contacts with healthy and infected leaves. While bees contacted flowers more often than flies, flies contacted infected leaves more often than bees. Bees were more likely to have Mvc spores on their bodies than flies, suggesting that bees may be more effective vectors than flies for transmitting Mvc spores to flowers. Leaves infected with Mvc had volatile profiles distinct from healthy leaves but similar to flowers. Two volatiles produced by flowers and infected leaves, cinnamyl alcohol and cinnamic aldehyde, were attractive to bees, while no volatiles manipulated were attractive to flies or any other insects. These results suggest that Mvc infection of leaves induces mimicry of floral volatiles, and that transmission occurs primarily via bees, which had the highest likelihood of carrying Mvc spores and visited flowers most frequently.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Floral Scent Mimicry and Vector-Pathogen Associations in a Pseudoflower-Inducing Plant Pathogen System

et al. 2016

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“…; Grieshop et al. ). Cameras in these studies are often aimed at Petri dishes on the ground (Merfield et al.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…; Grieshop et al. ; Walton ). Others have immobilized mobile prey like lepidopteran larvae by gluing or pinning them to a surface (Frank et al.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In contrast to these temporal limitations, video observations can be made continuously, although equipment costs usually limit spatial coverage (Grieshop et al. ). Grieshop et al.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Grieshop et al. () provide a side‐by‐side comparison of the strengths and weaknesses of camera observations versus visual examinations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Comparison of sampling methods of Aphis glycines predators across the diel cycle

Woltz

Landis

2013

J Applied Entomology

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Nocturnal predators are often overlooked in biological control studies, despite evidence that they can make important contributions to insect pest suppression in agroecosystems. Many sampling methods are only employed during the daytime hours due to limitations of time and labour. Additionally, different sampling methods can provide contrasting information about natural enemy community composition and relative abundance. Here, we use Aphis glycines and its arthropod predators as a model system to compare natural enemy community composition described by vacuum samples, direct observations and video observations across the diel cycle in soybean. All sampling methods identified several common taxa. Anthocorids were dominant in vacuum samples and direct observations, and both methods indicated that this taxa may be more active in the afternoon. In contrast, anthocorids were recorded infrequently on video, possibly due to their small size. On video samples, lacewing larvae were the most active taxa during the day and lacewing larvae, spiders, opiliones and carabids were the most active taxa at night. We directly observed 22 predation events on soybean aphid: 17 by anthocorids, two by chrysopid larvae, and one each by a coccinellid, spider and predatory mite. The differences between the sample methods suggest that vacuum samples may represent predator abundance more accurately, while video data may miss small predators, but can be used to better assess relative time spent foraging.

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Methods to identify the prey of invertebrate predators in terrestrial field studies

Birkhofer

Bylund

Dalin

et al. 2017

Ecology and Evolution

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Predation is an interaction during which an organism kills and feeds on another organism. Past and current interest in studying predation in terrestrial habitats has yielded a number of methods to assess invertebrate predation events in terrestrial ecosystems. We provide a decision tree to select appropriate methods for individual studies. For each method, we then present a short introduction, key examples for applications, advantages and disadvantages, and an outlook to future refinements. Video and, to a lesser extent, live observations are recommended in studies that address behavioral aspects of predator–prey interactions or focus on per capita predation rates. Cage studies are only appropriate for small predator species, but often suffer from a bias via cage effects. The use of prey baits or analyses of prey remains are cheaper than other methods and have the potential to provide per capita predation estimates. These advantages often come at the cost of low taxonomic specificity. Molecular methods provide reliable estimates at a fine level of taxonomic resolution and are free of observer bias for predator species of any size. However, the current PCR‐based methods lack the ability to estimate predation rates for individual predators and are more expensive than other methods. Molecular and stable isotope analyses are best suited to address systems that include a range of predator and prey species. Our review of methods strongly suggests that while in many cases individual methods are sufficient to study specific questions, combinations of methods hold a high potential to provide more holistic insights into predation events. This review presents an overview of methods to researchers that are new to the field or to particular aspects of predation ecology and provides recommendations toward the subset of suitable methods to identify the prey of invertebrate predators in terrestrial field research.

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Big Brother is Watching: Studying Insect Predation in the Age of Digital Surveillance

Cited by 57 publications

References 25 publications

Floral Scent Mimicry and Vector-Pathogen Associations in a Pseudoflower-Inducing Plant Pathogen System

Floral Scent Mimicry and Vector-Pathogen Associations in a Pseudoflower-Inducing Plant Pathogen System

Comparison of sampling methods of Aphis glycines predators across the diel cycle

Methods to identify the prey of invertebrate predators in terrestrial field studies

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