Ecological Costs of Alarm Signalling in Aphids

Outreman, Yannick; Kunert, Grit; Simon, Jean‐Christophe; Weisser, Wolfgang W.

doi:10.1007/978-90-481-8601-3_10

Cited by 7 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…Its production is costly in terms of energy, and reduces the amount of lipids available for development [21], reproduction [22] or dispersal [23]. Furthermore, some components of aphid cornicle secretions trigger attack behaviour in predators [24] and parasitoids, obviously serving as a stimulant for host/prey finding and attacking. For instance, the release of alarm pheromone by S. avenae is attractive for A. rhopalosiphi parasitoids [25] while the emission of cornicle secretions by A. pisum stimulates a strong oviposition attack response from Aphidius ervi females [26].…”

Section: Behavioural Defencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolutionary ecology of the interactions between aphids and their parasitoids

Ralec

Anselme

Outreman

et al. 2010

Comptes Rendus. Biologies

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Section: Behavioural Defencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolutionary ecology of the interactions between aphids and their parasitoids

Ralec

Anselme

Outreman

et al. 2010

Comptes Rendus. Biologies

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“…Even though aphid colonies can survive sporadically up to 50 days, the majority of aphid colonies survive less than a week (e.g. Weisser, 2000;Weisser & Härri, 2005;Outreman et al, 2010;Vosteen et al, 2016a,b). The development of ladybird larvae usually takes more than 2 weeks while larvae of the hoverfly Episyrphus balteatus pupate after as little as 8 days under optimal conditions, but need much longer if temperatures are below 17 ∘ C (Hart et al, 1997;Lanzoni et al, 2004).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dealing with food shortage: larval dispersal behaviour and survival on non‐prey food of the hoverfly Episyrphus balteatus

Vosteen

Gershenzon

Kunert

2018

Ecological Entomology

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Abstract. 1. Predatory larvae often have to face food shortages during their development, and thus the ability to disperse and find new feeding sites is crucial for survival. However, the dispersal capacity of predatory larvae, the host finding cues employed, and their use of alternative food sources are largely unknown. These aspects of the foraging behaviour of the aphidophagous hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus De Geer) larvae were investigated in the present study.2. It was shown that these hoverfly larvae do not leave a plant as long as there are aphids available, but that dispersing larvae are able to find other aphid colonies in the field. Dispersing hoverfly larvae accumulated on large aphid colonies, but did not distinguish between different pea aphid race-plant species combinations. Large aphid colonies might be easier to detect because of intensified searching by hoverfly larvae following the encounter of aphid cues like honeydew that accumulate around large colonies.3. It was further shown that non-prey food, such as diluted honey or pollen, was insufficient for hoverfly larvae to gain weight, but prolonged the survival of the larvae compared with unfed individuals. As soon as larvae were switched back to an aphid diet, they rapidly gained weight and some pupated after a few days. Although pupation and adult hatching rates were strongly reduced compared with hoverflies continuously fed with aphids, the consumption of non-prey food most probably increases the probability that hoverfly larvae find an aphid colony and complete their development.

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“…Releasing even a single droplet can delay or reduce reproduction of aphids, especially when doing so before attaining maturity [46]. Furthermore, releasing cornicle secretions can have an ecological cost as the volatiles contained in them may attract species of predators [47,48] and parasitoids [49,50]. …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Altruistic defence behaviours in aphids

Boivin

Brodeur

et al. 2010

BMC Evol Biol

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BackgroundAltruistic anti-predatory behaviours pose an evolutionary problem because they are costly to the actor and beneficial to the recipients. Altruistic behaviours can evolve through indirect fitness benefits when directed toward kin. The altruistic nature of anti-predatory behaviours is often difficult to establish because the actor can obtain direct fitness benefits, or the behaviour could result from selfish coercion by others, especially in eusocial animals. Non-eusocial parthenogenetically reproducing aphids form colonies of clone-mates, which are ideal to test the altruistic nature of anti-predatory defence behaviours. Many aphids release cornicle secretions when attacked by natural enemies such as parasitoids. These secretions contain an alarm pheromone that alerts neighbours (clone-mates) of danger, thereby providing indirect fitness benefits to the actor. However, contact with cornicle secretions also hampers an attacker and could provide direct fitness to the actor.ResultsWe tested the hypothesis that cornicle secretions are altruistic by assessing direct and indirect fitness consequences of smearing cornicle secretions onto an attacker, and by manipulating the number of clone-mates that could benefit from the behaviour. We observed parasitoids, Aphidius rhopalosiphi, foraging singly in patches of the cereal aphid Sitobion avenae of varied patch size (2, 6, and 12 aphids). Aphids that smeared parasitoids did not benefit from a reduced probability of parasitism, or increase the parasitoids' handling time. Smeared parasitoids, however, spent proportionately more time grooming and less time foraging, which resulted in a decreased host-encounter and oviposition rate within the host patch. In addition, individual smearing rate increased with the number of clone-mates in the colony.ConclusionsCornicle secretions of aphids were altruistic against parasitoids, as they provided no direct fitness benefits to secretion-releasing individuals, only indirect fitness benefits through neighbouring clone-mates. Moreover, the use of cornicle secretions was consistent with their altruistic nature, because the occurrence of this behaviour increased with the size of indirect fitness benefits, the number of clone-mates that can benefit. This study provides evidence for a case of kin-directed altruistic defence outside eusocial animals.

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Ecological Costs of Alarm Signalling in Aphids

Cited by 7 publications

References 43 publications

Evolutionary ecology of the interactions between aphids and their parasitoids

Evolutionary ecology of the interactions between aphids and their parasitoids

Dealing with food shortage: larval dispersal behaviour and survival on non‐prey food of the hoverfly Episyrphus balteatus

Altruistic defence behaviours in aphids

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