Foraging Behavior of an Aphidophagous Hoverfly, Sphaerophoria macrogaster (Thomson) on Insectary Plants

Theoretical Foundation of the Control of Pollination by Hoverflies in a Greenhouse

“…We emphasize, we use Markov model to handle the general pollination process. After the mathematical study of our model, we were also surprised that when we used some data on hoverfly from the literature [43], the prediction obtained from the Markov model matched surprisingly well with the density suggested by the agent producing company. That is why we rely on Markov processes as a good approximation in this context.…”

“…Here, we use our general result of Section 2.1. In this model simulation, we use some data from the literature on hoverfly [43] such as searching time (interplant movement duration): 16.2-32.4 s and handling time (residence duration): 11.7-120.0 s. So, we roughly chose the arithmetic mean of these time durations, therefore, let τ s = 24 s and τ h = 60 s in each figure. This hoverfly activity occurs during 6 h a day, so let T = 6 h. In tomato crops, there are 60-80 open flowers/square meter, so we set M = 70.…”

“…Here, we use our general result of Section 2.1. In this model data from the literature on hoverfly [43] such as searching time (i ration): 16.2-32.4 s and handling time (residence duration): 11.7 chose the arithmetic mean of these time durations, therefore, let in each figure. This hoverfly activity occurs during 6 h a day, s crops, there are 60-80 open flowers/square meter, so we set M = m 2 greenhouse (which is the average size in the area of Almer 700,000 open flowers waiting for pollinators.…”

“…The species considered for this work was Eristalis tenax (L.) (Diptera, Syrphidae: Eristalinae). Data on its biology and ecology have been collected from the available literature on this species and other nearby species in the same genus (e.g., [14,27,[32][33][34][35][36]).…”

Activity and foraging behaviour of the hoverflyEristalinus aeneus(Scopoli, 1763) in protected cultivation of mango (Mangifera indicaL.)

“…The potential of an insect species as an effective pollinator is primarily determined, among other factors, by its foraging behaviour (Rader et al ., 2009; Ne'eman et al ., 2010). Unfortunately, detailed information about the behaviour of hoverflies is scarce and mostly limited to aphidophagous species (Wratten et al ., 1995; Soleyman-Nezhadiyan and Laughlin, 1998; Emtia and Ohno, 2018; Rodriguez-Gasol et al ., 2019; Pekas et al ., 2020). Therefore, there is a clear gap in the knowledge of the aptitude of dipterans as pollinators, especially when confined within protected cultivation structures.…”