Herbivore response to vegetational diversity: spatial interaction of resources and natural enemies

Vegetational diversity in agricultural systems is predicted to reduce herbivore populations, but we observed the opposite effect: higher nymph population densities of a functionally monophagous herbivore, the squash bug, Anasa tristis (Hemiptera: Coreidae) in a vegetationally diverse squash-bean-corn polyculture than in a squash monoculture. We examined spatial and temporal aspects of squash bug and predator populations in relation to vegetational diversity. Average colonization, oviposition, and mortality rates for the herbivore were similar in monocultures and polycultures. In the polyculture, however, we found that squash bugs eggs were highly aggregated on plants on the outer edges of plots. Predation was also lower on plants near the edges, allowing the large aggregations of eggs found in the polyculture to escape predation and ultimately produce more squash bugs. Spatial interactions between herbivores and natural enemies may underlie some of the general effects of vegetational diversity on herbivores.     

Deterministic in contrast to stochastic modeling.

The first attempt to model a process is often a deterministic setup with differential equations. The existing stochastic influence is suppressed and hopefully negligible. However, sometimes the stochastic component is important. We demonstrate and clarify this for a growth process. The deterministic approach is given by Yn + 1 = Yn + g(Yn) or dYt = g(Yt)dt, Y0 = 1, g a positive function. The corresponding stochastic equation is Xn + 1 = Xn + g(Xn)(1 + xi n) or dXt = g(Xt)dt + f(Xt)dWt, xi some random variable, W the Brownian motion. We compare the asymptotic behavior of the deterministic solution versus the stochastic solution.     

Dispersal and natural enemies interact to drive spatial synchrony and decrease stability in patchy populations

Spatial synchrony is widespread in natural populations but the mechanisms that underpin it are not yet fully understood. Two key biotic drivers of spatial synchrony have been identified: dispersal and trophic interactions (e.g. natural enemies). We used spatially structured, patchy bacterial populations to show that although increased dispersal always enhanced spatial synchrony of fluctuations in bacterial abundance, this effect was far stronger in the presence of a bacteriophage parasite. Bacteriophages drove strong within patch fluctuations in bacterial abundance that became phase locked through dispersal. Furthermore, the way in which stability, measured as constancy, responded to increasing dispersal was qualitatively different depending on whether parasites were present or not. Patch-level constancy decreased with dispersal in the presence of parasites, whereas dispersal increased patch-level constancy in the absence of parasites. Population-level constancy also decreased with dispersal in the presence of parasites, but was unaffected by dispersal in the absence of parasites. These contrasting patterns were likely due to the different role played by dispersal in the presence and absence of parasites, synchronizing dynamics in the former case and averaging stochastic fluctuations in the latter. Taken together, our findings suggest that dispersal and natural enemies can interact to drive spatially synchronous population fluctuations that decrease stability at both the patch and population level.     

The effect of semi-natural habitats on aphids and their natural enemies across spatial and temporal scales

Semi-natural habitats in agricultural landscapes are generally assumed to enhance the biological control of insect pests based on native beneficial insects, by providing alternative prey and hosts, resources and refuges for overwintering. We hypothesized that natural enemies of winter wheat aphids should arrive sooner in fields near semi-natural habitats. We compared aphid, hoverfly (larvae and eggs) and parasitized aphid (mummies) abundances in 54 winter wheat fields located in southern France from 2003 to 2007. Six surveys were recorded each spring and were split into the early period (defined as the period before the peak of aphid growth) and the late period (after the peak). The wheat fields differed by their surrounding landscape composition measured as the proportion of semi-natural habitats (woods, hedges and grasslands), at three different spatial scales: 200 m, 500 m, and 1200 m. Despite great variability in abundance data between years, the abundance of hoverflies appeared more sensitive to landscape composition than aphid abundance was. Early abundance for both aphids and hoverflies was positively related to wood cover, but not late abundance in spring. The abundance of hoverflies was positively related to hedge and grassland cover at all spatial scales and both periods considered. Aphid parasitism was higher near hedges at the small spatial scale late in the spring. Our results confirmed that higher proportions of semi-natural habitats in agricultural landscapes enhance the biological control of pests, but this effect depends on the spatial scale, the time period in the spring and the natural enemies considered.     

Deterministic and stochastic features of rhythmic human movement

The dynamics of rhythmic movement has both deterministic and stochastic features. We advocate a recently established analysis method that allows for an unbiased identification of both types of system components. The deterministic components are revealed in terms of drift coefficients and vector fields, while the stochastic components are assessed in terms of diffusion coefficients and ellipse fields. The general principles of the procedure and its application are explained and illustrated using simulated data from known dynamical systems. Subsequently, we exemplify the method’s merits in extracting deterministic and stochastic aspects of various instances of rhythmic movement, including tapping, wrist cycling and forearm oscillations. In particular, it is shown how the extracted numerical forms can be analysed to gain insight into the dependence of dynamical properties on experimental conditions.     

Associational resistance mediated by natural enemies

Abstract.  1. Associational resistance theory suggests that the association of herbivore-susceptible plant species with herbivore-resistant plant species can reduce herbivore density on the susceptible plant species. Several casual mechanisms are possible but none has so far invoked natural enemies. Associational resistance mediated by natural enemies was tested for by examining densities of a gall fly, Asphondylia borrichiae (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae), and levels of parasitism on two closely related seaside plants, Borrichia frutescens and Iva frutescens , when alone and when co-occurring.
2. Both Borrichia and Iva grow alone or together on small offshore islands in Florida. Each host plant species has its own associated race of fly, but both races of fly are attacked by the same four species of parasitoids. Borrichia normally has a higher density of galls than Iva , and galls are larger on Borrichia than on Iva .
3. Gall size, gall abundance, parasitism levels, and parasitoid community composition were quantified on both Borrichia and Iva on islands where each species grew alone or together. Some islands were then manipulated by adding Borrichia to islands supporting only Iva , and by adding Iva to islands supporting only Borrichia . Subsequent gall densities and gall parasitism levels on the original native species were then examined.
4. On both natural and experimentally manipulated islands, gall densities on Iva were significantly lowered by the presence of Borrichia . This is because bigger parasitoid species that were common on Borrichia galls, which are bigger, spilled over and attacked the smaller Iva galls. Thus, parasitism rates on Iva were higher on islands where Borrichia co-occurred than on islands where Borrichia were absent. Most parasitoids from Iva were too small to successfully attack the large Borrichia galls and so gall density on Borrichia was unaffected by the presence of Iva .     

Phylogenetic distance can predict susceptibility to attack by natural enemies

If related species share enemies, variation in the damage experienced by species within a community may be predictable based on phylogeny. We examined the hypothesis that plant species more closely related to other community members experience greater herbivory by assessing leaf damage to native and exotic plants in two North American communities: an Eastern hardwood forest and a Rocky Mountain montane community. Pairwise phylogenetic distances between focal species and the hundreds of other native species in each community were calculated. We examined the influence of four measures of relatedness within each community: NND (phylogenetic distance to the nearest native neighbor), MPD (mean phylogenetic distance to the native species in the community), and two new metrics, MIPD (mean inverse phylogenetic distance) and INND (inverse nearest neighbor distance). These new metrics assume a nonlinear increase in interaction strength with relatedness; in the context of natural enemies, they posit that the sharing of enemies between any two species increases nonlinearly with their relatedness. Using regression models, we found that herbivore damage decreased with decreasing phylogenetic similarity of focal species to native species (as measured by MIPD) in both sites, although the pattern was significant only for native focal species in the montane community and exotic focal species in the hardwood forest. Similar decreases in herbivory with decreasing relatedness were detected using INND (montane natives) and MPD (hardwood forest exotics). There was no significant relationship between NND and herbivory for any of the four site by focal plant origin combinations. Our results are the first to support the hypothesis that native species can escape attack as a function of their phylogenetic dissimilarity to the larger community of native species, and to demonstrate that exotic species show these patterns in the wild (as opposed to in common gardens). We suggest that phylogenetic distance metrics assuming a nonlinear increase in interaction strength with relatedness show promise for broader application.     

天敌伴迁与生物多样性

在对昆虫迁飞进行雷达观测时发现,天敌（包括蜘蛛）种群的大规模伴迁现象引人注目,国内外的近捕、海捕中也都有天敌入网。这种同步迁移现象无疑具有重要的生态学和行为学意义,表现出“天敌－寄主－植物”不同营养层之间的相互作用。而温带和热带空中取样中伴迁天敌数量相差之巨,也突出反映了不同的生物多性背景。对低层大中的生物流量进行长期监测,可望从另一个层面提供可靠的生物多样性信息。     

斜纹夜蛾天敌作用的评价

通过组建斜纹夜蛾第4代和第8代自然种群生命表,运用排除作用控制指数分析了生物因子对斜纹夜蛾种群的自然控制作用。结果表明,低龄(1～3龄)幼虫的捕食性天敌是影响斜纹夜蛾种群数量动态的重要因子。对第4代和第8代种群的排除作用控制指数分别为13.904和12.946.如果没有捕食性天敌的作用,下代种群数量将分别增长到当代的15.1206和74.678倍。病原微生物是影响第4代斜纹夜蛾种群数量的另一重要因子,其排除作用控制指数为2.4726.     

Survival of three commercially available natural enemies exposed to Michigan wildflowers

Flowering plants are often used in habitat management programs to conserve the arthropod natural enemies of insect pests. In this study, nine species of flowering plants representing six families commonly found in North America east of the Rocky Mountains were evaluated based on how much they extended the lifespans of three commercially available natural enemy species in cages with cut flower stems compared with cages containing water only. The natural enemies used in the experiments were a lady beetle (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae: Hippodamia convergens Guérin-Méneville), a predatory bug (Heteroptera: Anthocoridae: Orius insidiosus (Say)), and an aphid parasitoid (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Aphidius colemani Viereck). The plant species that most extended the lifespans of all three natural enemies were Monarda fistulosa L. (Lamiaceae), Solidago juncea Aiton (Asteraceae), and Daucus carota L. (Apiaceae). Agastache nepetoides (L.) Kuntze (Lamiaceae), Lobelia siphilitica L. (Campanulaceae), and Trifolium pratense L. (Fabaceae) were intermediate in their support of natural enemies. One plant species, Penstemon hirsutus (L.) Willdenow (Scrophulariaceae), did not contribute to the longevity of natural enemies any more than water alone. These results emphasize the need for multi-species evaluations of flowering plants for conservation biocontrol programs, and the variability in plant value for natural enemies.     

居竹伪角蚜及其3种主要天敌的空间格局研究

对危害孝顺竹Bambusa multiplex的居竹伪角蚜Pseudoregma bambusicola及其3种主要天敌的卒间分布进行调查,聚集度指标表明竹蚜在竹林问为聚集分布,其种群密度在一定时间内较为稳定.天敌蚜厌蝶Taraka hama-da、赤星瓢虫Lemnia sauciaia和食蚜虻Asilichae.sp.在竹林中主要符合负二项式分布和P-E核心分布,为小均匀的聚集分布,存在由点片向四周扩散的现象,频次分析和聚集度指标的分析结果基本一致,其中瓢虫的聚集程度不及另外2种天敌的明显.对竹蚜和天敌的相关关系分析表明,仪食蚜虻的分布与竹蚜之间表现为负相关(r=-0.6341),食蚜虻的活动受蚜群分布的影响最大,而其余2种天敌的取食范围不受限制.     

5种生物杀虫剂对4种天敌昆虫的安全性评价

【目的】生物杀虫剂及天敌昆虫的应用是绿色防控的发展方向,但有关生物杀虫剂对天敌昆虫的安全性尚不明确。研究生物杀虫剂对天敌昆虫的影响可以为更好地协调使用生物杀虫剂和天敌昆虫提供理论依据。【方法】在实验室条件下采用药膜法和滤纸膜片法测定了5种生物杀虫剂(苦参碱、桉油精、鱼藤酮、除虫菊素、橄榄鲨)在田间推荐使用浓度下,对4种天敌昆虫(丽蚜小蜂、东亚小花蝽、食蚜瘿蚊、巴氏新小绥螨)的致死率。【结果】除虫菊素对丽蚜小蜂、东亚小花蝽、巴氏新小绥螨的影响较大,致死率均达到100%;鱼藤酮对丽蚜小蜂、食蚜瘿蚊、巴氏新小绥螨的影响均较大,致死率在98.65%以上;橄榄鲨对丽蚜小蜂、东亚小花蝽、食蚜瘿蚊的影响较小,致死率均小于30%;苦参碱对丽蚜小蜂的影响最大,致死率达100%,对食蚜瘿蚊和巴氏新小绥螨的影响较小,致死率分别为15.56%和15.91%;桉油精对巴氏新小绥螨的影响最大,致死率达100%,对东亚小花蝽和食蚜瘿蚊的影响较小,致死率分别为15.91%和6.67%。【结论】这5种生物杀虫剂中,橄榄鲨对丽蚜小蜂、东亚小花蝽、食蚜瘿蚊安全,桉油精对东亚小花蝽、食蚜瘿蚊安全,苦参碱对食蚜瘿蚊、巴氏新小绥螨安全,鱼藤酮对东亚小花蝽安全,除虫菊素对食蚜瘿蚊安全。     

Attractiveness of Michigan native plants to arthropod natural enemies and herbivores

The use of plants to provide nectar and pollen resources to natural enemies through habitat management is a growing focus of conservation biological control. Current guidelines frequently recommend use of annual plants exotic to the management area, but native perennial plants are likely to provide similar resources and may have several advantages over exotics. We compared a set of 43 native Michigan perennial plants and 5 frequently recommended exotic annual plants for their attractiveness to natural enemies and herbivores for 2 yr. Plant species differed significantly in their attractiveness to natural enemies. In year 1, the exotic annual plants outperformed many of the newly established native perennial plants. In year 2, however, many native perennial plants attracted higher numbers of natural enemies than exotic plants. In year 2, we compared each flowering plant against the background vegetation (grass) for their attractiveness to natural enemies and herbivores. Screening individual plant species allowed rapid assessment of attractiveness to natural enemies. We identified 24 native perennial plants that attracted high numbers of natural enemies with promise for habitat management. Among the most attractive are Eupatorium perfoliatum L., Monarda punctata L., Silphium perfoliatum L., Potentilla fruticosa auct. non L., Coreopsis lanceolata L., Spiraea alba Duroi, Agastache nepetoides (L.) Kuntze, Anemone canadensis L., and Angelica atropurpurea L. Subsets of these plants can now be tested to develop a community of native plant species that attracts diverse natural enemy taxa and provides nectar and pollen throughout the growing season.     

Deterministic or stochastic choices in retinal neuron specification

There are two views on vertebrate retinogenesis: a deterministic model dependent on fixed lineages and a stochastic model in which choices of division modes and cell fates cannot be predicted. In this issue of Neuron, He et?al. (2012) address this question in zebrafish using live imaging and mathematical modeling.     

A stochastic approach to predator-prey models

A deterministic investigation of a linear differential equation system which describes predator vs prey behavior as a function of equilibrium densities and reproductive rates is given. A more realistic structure of this model in a stochastic framework is presented. The reproductive rates and initial population sizes are considered to be random variables and their probabilistic behavior characterized by various joint probability distributions. The deterministic behaviors of the prey and predator species as functions of time are compared with the mean behaviors in the stochastic model.     

On the role of spatial stochastic models in understanding landscape indices in ecology

Spatial stochastic models play an important role in understanding and predicting the behaviour of complex systems. Such models may be implemented with explicit knowledge of only a limited number of parameters relating to spatial relationships among locations. Consequently, they are often used instead of deterministic‐mechanistic models, which may potentially require an unrealistically large number of parameters. Currently, in contrast to spatial stochastic models, the parameterization of the joint spatial distribution of objects in landscape models is more often implicit than explicit. Here, we investigate the similarities and differences between bona fide spatial stochastic models and landscape models by focusing mostly on the relationships between processes, their realizations (patterns), representation and measurement, and their use in exploratory as well as confirmatory data analysis. One of the most important outcomes of recognizing the importance of stochastic processes is the acknowledgement that the spatial pattern observed in a landscape is only one realization of that process. Hence, while ecologists have been using landscape pattern indices (LPIs) to characterize landscape heterogeneity and/or make inferences about processes shaping the landscape, no stochastic modelling framework has been developed for their proper statistical elucidation. Consequently, several (mis)uses of LPIs draw conclusions about landscapes which are suspect. We show that several reports about sensitivities of LPIs to measurements have common roots that can be made explicitly manageable by adopting stochastic models of spatial structure. The key parameters of these stochastic models are composition and configuration, which, in general, cannot be estimated independently from each other. We outline how to develop the stochastic framework to interpret observations and make some recommendations to practitioners about everyday usage. The conceptual linkages between patterns and processes are particularly important in light of recent efforts to bridge the static‐structural and the dynamic‐analytic traditions of ecology.