Effect of ground-cover management on spider mites and their phytoseiid natural enemies in clementine mandarin orchards (I): Bottom-up regulation mechanisms

Isolation and characterization of polymorphic microsatellite markers in Tetranychus urticae and cross amplification in other Tetranychidae and Phytoseiidae species of economic importance

“…al. 2004;Ansaloni et al 2007;Aguilar-Fenollosa et al 2011) as well as in some citrus growing areas, especially on mandarins under Mediterranean climate (Bodenheimer, 1951;Talhouk, 1975;Swirski, 1977;McMurtry, 1985;Vacante, 1986;Hmimina et al 1995;Souliotis et al 1997). This mite constitutes the key pest of Clementine mandarins, Citrus clementina Hort.…”

“…The enormous adaptability of T. urticae to different host plants (Gould, 1979;Fry, 1989Fry, , 1992Agrawal, 2000), and the fact that in the citrus agrosystem, this mite can be found feeding on many plant species (Aucejo et al 2003;Aguilar-Fenollosa et al 2011), have stirred our interest in determining the existence of host races of this species.…”

Gestión Integrada de la araña roja Tetranychus urticae Koch (Acari: Tetranychidae): optimización de su control biológico en clementinos

“…La festuca sembrada entre líneas del cultivo, actúa como un reservorio manteniendo las poblaciones de los enemigos naturales nativos o autóctonos (principalmente fitoseidos) elevadas durante todo el año. De esta manera, los depredadores actúan regulando y disminuyendo la presencia de T. urticae en los árboles (Aguilar-Fenollosa et al 2011a ).…”

“…Puede encontrarse tanto en el árbol como en la cubierta vegetal (García-Marí et al 1991;Abad-Moyano et al 2009a;Aguilar-Fenollosa et al 2011a Ferragut et al (1987) observaron que la tasa de puesta y el tiempo de desarrollo de E. stipulatus se veía afectado negativamente cuando era obligado a alimentarse con T. urticae.…”

“…Different studies on cover crops have proposed the use of some perennial grasses (Poaceae) because they are unsuitable hosts for phytophagous mites (Flexner et al 1991;Alston 1994;Barbosa 1998;Nyrop et al 1998) and specifically for T. urticae in clementine mandarin orchards . Recently, a mono-specific cover of the perennial grass Festuca arundinacea Schreber (Poaceae) has demonstrated to improve the regulation of T. urticae in clementine trees when compared with a wild cover or bare soil, both by reducing the successful settlement of T. urticae in clementine mandarin trees (Aguilar-Fenollosa et al 2011a) and by enhancing the populations of more efficient specialist predators relative to generalist pollen feeder predators (Aguilar-Fenollosa et al 2011b). Furthermore, the use of Euseius stipulatus is an omnivorous predator that can exclusively feed and successfully reproduce on pollen (Ferragut et al 1987;Bouras & Papadoulis 2005) and its role as a biological control agent is limited to some tetranychid species, other than T. urticae, as…”