0000000000277499
AUTHOR
Stephen D. Wratten
Disentangling higher trophic level interactions in the cabbage aphid food web using high-throughput DNA sequencing
International audience; The lack of understanding of complex food-web interactions has been a major gap in the history of biological control. In particular, a better understanding of the functioning of pest food-webs and how they vary between native and invaded geographical ranges is of prime interest for biological control research and associated integrated pest management. Technical limitations associated with the deciphering of complex food-webs can now be largely overcome by the use of high throughput DNA sequencing techniques such as Illumina MiSeq. We tested the efficiency of this next generation sequencing technology in a metabarcoding approach, to study aphid food-webs using the cab…
Chemical ecology meets conservation biological control: identifying plant volatiles as predictors of floral resource suitability for an egg parasitoid of stink bugs
Conservation biological control aims to enhance natural enemy populations in crop habitats, e.g. by providing flowering plants as food resources. Suitable flower species must enhance the survival and fecundity of natural enemies but in addition they also need to be highly attractive and thus frequently visited. To date, few examples exist that have considered both criteria. In this study, we tested the effects of the flowering plants alyssum (Lobularia maritima), buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum), French marigold (Tagetes patula) and sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum) on the fecundity and olfactory attractiveness of the egg parasitoid Trissolcus basalis, an important biological control agent of …