Role of terpenes from aphid-infested potato on searching and oviposition behavior of Episyrphus balteatus

• 来源期刊: 中国昆虫科学(英文版)
• 关键词: aphid infested behavior Episyrphus balteatus potato terpenes
• 年，卷（期）: 2007,（1）
• 页码范围: 57-63
• 页数: 7页
• 语种: 英文

摘要

To cope with pathogen and insect attacks, plants develop different mechanismsof defence, in both direct (physical and chemical) and indirect ways (attractive volatiles toentomophagous beneficials). Plants are then able to express traits that facilitate "top-down"control of pests by attracting herbivore predators. Here we investigate the indirect defencemechanism of potato plants by analyzing the volatile patterns of both healthy and aphidinfested plants. Important changes in the emitted terpene pattern by the Myzus persicaeinfested host plant were observed. Using Solid Phase MicroExtraction (SPME) and GC-MS,the (E)-β-farnesene (EBF) appeared to be emitted by aphid-infested potato and not byhealthy plants. To assess the infochemical role of these volatile releases after aphid damageon the aphidophagous predators Episyrphus balteatus, the hoverfly foraging behavior wasassessed using the Observer 5.0 software (Noldus, Wageningen, The Netherlands). Aphidfree potato plants were also used as a control volatile source in the predator behavioral study.While aphid-infested plants induced efficient searching and acceptation behaviors leadingto egg-laying, no kairomonal effect of healthy potato plants was observed, leading to longerimmobility durations and shorter searching periods in the net cage. High oviposition rate ofE. balteatus was observed when aphid-infested potato was used (mean of 48.9 eggs perlaying and per female). On the other hand, no egg was produced by the hoverfly on healthyaphid-free plants. The E. balteatus foraging and reproductive behaviors according to thevolatile emission from aphid-infested plants are discussed in relation to the potential use ofactive infochemical molecules in integrated aphid pest management.