Population Dynamics of the Sycamore Aphid Drepanosiphum platanoides (Schr.) (Hemiptera: Aphididae): Migratory and Trivial Flight Activity

Dixon, A. F. G.

doi:10.2307/3037

Cited by 84 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…Most studies found that protected colonies grew faster, larger and persisted longer, though at least one study found no dierences (Dixon 1969). However, as mentioned in the Materials and methods section, caging may enhance aphid growth directly by providing a favourable microclimate (Chambers et al 1983;Hodgson 1991).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Predators and mutualists influence the exclusion of aphid species from natural communities

Müller¹,

Godfray²

1999

Oecologia

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We investigated why two species of aphids (Aphis jacobaeae and Brachycaudus cardui) were very rare in a study site despite their abundance in the surrounding area. The study site contained many common species of aphid and we tested the hypothesis that the community of aphid predators in the field excluded the missing species. Colonies of the two aphid species were artificially initiated in the experimental site and allocated to one of four treatments: control; ground predator exclusion; total predator exclusion, and provision of mutualist ants. Two measures of colony performance were analysed: longevity and cumulative aphid density. Colonies decline naturally in late summer but control colonies disappeared very quickly while colonies protected from all predators survived the longest. The performance of colonies protected from just ground predators was intermediate. We failed to persuade ants to tend A. jacobaeae. Colonies of B. cardui attended by ants performed better than controls and those with ground predators excluded, but not as well as those with all predators excluded. We conclude that the absence of the two species of aphid in the study site is influenced by the resident predator community, and by the availability of mutualists.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Predators and mutualists influence the exclusion of aphid species from natural communities

Müller¹,

Godfray²

1999

Oecologia

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“…We focused on aphid^deciduous-tree interactions because aphids are, at present, an important and well-documented pest of trees (Blackman & Eastop 1994) and have a long proven history of association (Heie 1994). Furthermore, many aphids show a peak in migratory behaviour in autumn (Dixon 1969), just as the tree leaves are changing colour. Note, however, that the proposed signalling system is likely to hold between other plant groups and their most signi¢cant insect pests.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Autumn tree colours as a handicap signal

Hamilton

Brown

2001

Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B

265

309

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Many species of deciduous trees display striking colour changes in autumn. Here, we present a functional hypothesis: bright autumn coloration serves as an honest signal of defensive commitment against autumn colonizing insect pests. According to this hypothesis, individuals within a signalling species show variation in the expression of autumn coloration, with defensively committed trees producing a more intense display. Insects are expected to be averse to the brightest tree individuals and, hence, preferentially colonize the least defensive hosts. We predicted that tree species su¡ering greater insect damage would, on average, invest more in autumn-colour signalling than less troubled species. Here, we show that autumn coloration is stronger in species facing a high diversity of damaging specialist aphids. Aphids are likely to be an important group of signal receivers because they are choosy, damaging and use colour cues in host selection. In the light of further aspects of insect and tree biology, these results support the notion that bright autumn colours are expensive handicap signals revealing the defensive commitment of individual trees to autumn colonizing insect pests.

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“…Since it adapts to adverse climates at higher altitudes, the species is particularly suited to contrast the protective physiological and the co-evolutionary hypotheses on autumnal leaf colouration. Our study is focused on aphids because of their importance as tree pests and their migratory behaviour in autumn (Dixon 1969(Dixon , 1976Blackman and Eastop 1994).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Do aphids paint the tree red (or yellow)—can herbivore resistance or photoprotection explain colourful leaves in autumn?

Rolshausen

Schaefer

2006

Plant Ecol

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We explored two mutually nonexclusive hypotheses on autumnal leaf colouration. The co-evolutionary hypothesis states that autumnal leaf colouration functions as a handicap signal to herbivorous insects, whereas the photoprotection hypothesis posits that plant pigments primarily protect the plant against cold-induced photoinhibition and enhance nutrient transfer. To contrast both hypotheses, we compared yellow and red leaf colouration in three groups of mountain ash (Sorbus aucuparia L.). Two montane groups of different age were characterised by low aphid numbers and low temperature, and a lowland group by high aphid numbers and high temperature. There were no consistent altitudinal differences in leaf colouration. Compared to young trees, adult trees developed fewer red but more yellow leaves at high altitude. In the lowland population, the development of red leaf colour was related to decreasing daytime temperature, whereas the appearance of yellow leaf colouration corresponded to the decreasing photoperiod. This is consistent with the photoprotection hypothesis. Individual differences in red and yellow leaf colouration were inversely correlated to the number of fruits, which might be interpreted as a trade-off between reproductive and protective commitment.Temperature effects explained variation in aphid numbers over time and leaf colouration explained aphid distribution on a given day. As predicted by the co-evolutionary hypothesis, strongly coloured individuals harboured fewer aphids than green or dull-coloured ones. Since decreasing temperature reduced the number of migrating aphids but induced red leaf colouration, these processes are not mutually fine-tuned, which likely restricts the potential for co-evolution between mountain ash and aphids.

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Population Dynamics of the Sycamore Aphid Drepanosiphum platanoides (Schr.) (Hemiptera: Aphididae): Migratory and Trivial Flight Activity

Cited by 84 publications

References 12 publications

Predators and mutualists influence the exclusion of aphid species from natural communities

Predators and mutualists influence the exclusion of aphid species from natural communities

Autumn tree colours as a handicap signal

Do aphids paint the tree red (or yellow)—can herbivore resistance or photoprotection explain colourful leaves in autumn?

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