Population Dynamics of Drosophila suzukii in Coastal and Mainland Sweet Cherry Orchards of Greece

Abstract

Despite the recent invasion and wide spread of Drosophila suzukii Matsumura (Diptera: Drosophilidae) in Europe, little is known regarding its population trends in coastal areas of the southern Mediterranean countries. Using adult trapping and fruit sampling, we studied the population dynamics of D. suzukii in coastal and mainland (semi-highland) cherry orchards of Greece, from 2018 to 2020. Adults were captured in traps baited with apple cider vinegar, placed in conventional and unmanaged sweet-cherry orchards, and in neighbouring wild growing hosts. Sampling of sweet-cherry fruit to assess infestation levels was conducted from early and late-ripening cherry cultivars in both areas. Adults were captured throughout the year in the coastal area with two peaks registered in spring and late-autumn. Captures were nearly zero during the hot summer months. Flight activity exhibited only one peak in autumn at the mainland area, and ceased during winter and spring. Captures in wild hosts were lower during the sweet-cherry ripening period than later in the season. Higher sweet-cherry infestation levels were recorded in the coastal than in the mainland area and in unmanaged than in commercial orchards. Both early and late-ripening cultivars were highly susceptible to D. suzukii infestation in the coastal area. Infestation rates were higher in late-ripening cultivars than in early-ripening ones in the mainland area. We conclude that D. suzukii has well adapted to the Mediterranean climate of Greece, and is able to progressively exploit several crops and wild hosts of mainland and coastal areas.

Seasonal Population of Drosophila suzukii (Diptera: Drosophilidae) and Pesticide Use Pattern after Its Invasion in Caneberry Crops in Pennsylvania (USA)

“…In another study, we found a similar late-season higher D. suzukii population trend in small fruit crops when monitored using Pherocon D. suzukii Dual-Lure (Trécé Inc., Adair, OK, USA) [36]. The late-season occurrence of D. suzukii in various fruit crops has been reported from regions abroad, as well [37,38]. Monitoring traps in this study also caught another newly invasive species of Drosophilidae, Zaprionus indianus Gupta, 1970, and many other fruit flies and other dipterans during sampling.…”

Integrated management of Drosophila suzukii

“…In the laboratory, Tochen et al (2014) observed that at a temperature of 22 o C, the intrinsic rate of population increase of D. suzukii was higher (0.22) when compared to other temperatures in a range from 14 to 28 o C. Evans et al (2018), also in the laboratory, observed that heat stress (>30 o C) can reduce the fecundity and fertility of D. suzukii females. In contrast with our findings, other studies did find that fluctuations in the D. suzukii capture rates were correlated mostly to temperature in orchards of several fruit trees in another region of Brazil, as well as in Greece (Papanastasiou, Rodovitis, Bataka, Verykouki, & Papadopoulos, 2020;Wollmann et al, 2019). In our study, temperature did explain a significant, but mostly small part of the variation in capture rate.…”

Aydın İli (Türkiye) meyve bahçelerindeki Drosophilidae (Diptera) familyası türlerinin mevsimsel yoğunlukları ve tür çeşitliliği ve birlikte saptanan diğer Diptera türleri

“…Drosophila suzukii adults were captured throughout the year with spring and late autumn peaks in a coastal area in Greece, which is relatively close to our study region in Türkiye. However, only a single peak was observed in the mainland in autumn (Papanastasiou et al, 2020). In Central Europe, large populations of D. suzukii were observed in September and October, but the species was almost absent before July, and it was suggested that the long-distance migration might be essential for it to re-establish following the high mortality in winter (Deutsch & Kiss, 2021).…”