A two-component model of host-parasitoid interactions: determination of the size of inundative releases of parasitoids in biological pest control

A two-component differential equation model is formulated for a host-parasitoid interaction. Transient dynamics and population crashes of this system are analysed using differential inequalities. Two different cases can be distinguished: either the intrinsic growth rate of the host population is smaller than the maximum growth rate of the parasitoid or vice versa. In the latter case, the initial ratio of parasitoids to hosts should exceed a given threshold, in order to (temporarily) halt the growth of the host population. When not only oviposition but also host-feeding occurs the dynamics do not change qualitatively. In the case that the maximum growth rate of the parasitoid population is smaller than the intrinsic growth rate of the host, a threshold still exists for the number of parasitoids in an inundative release in order to limit the growth of the host population. The size of an inundative release of parasitoids, which is necessary to keep the host population below a certain level, can be determined from the two-component model. When parameter values for hosts and parasitoids are known, an effective control of pests can be found. First it is determined whether the parasitoids are able to suppress their hosts fully. Moreover, using our simple rule of thumb it can be assessed whether suppression is also possible when the relative growth rate of the host population exceeds that of the parasitoid population. With a numerical investigation of our simple system the design of parasitoid release strategies for specific situations can be computed.     

龙眼园害虫群落结构与动态研究

研究结果表明,龙眼害虫群落包括8目38科62种,其中为害较严重的有10多种。荔枝蝽蟓、龙眼角颊木虱、荔枝蒂蛀虫、龙眼亥麦蛾、荔枝尖细蛾和三角新小卷蛾为害尤为严重,是龙眼害虫的关键物种。这些害虫直接影响龙眼的产量和质量,是生产上防治的重点。龙眼害虫群落的生物多样性指数全年变动范围为0．0919—2．2938,均匀度指数全年变动范围为0．0837—0．8273。总体上分析,龙眼害虫群落优势种的优势地位明显,生态优势度大,在药剂防治实践中,应该注意保护果园昆虫天敌和蜘蛛类等有益生物,保护果园生物多样性,达到害虫可持续控制目的。     

香蕉园害虫和捕食性节肢动物群落结构及动态研究

报道了南宁市香蕉园害虫,捕食性节肢动物和中性昆虫亚群落结构,由18目74科181种组成,害虫和蜘蛛是构成香蕉园节肢动物群落组成及功能作用的主要群落,香蕉冠网蝽（Stephanitis typica),袋蛾类（Psychidae),广西抚蛛（Uloborus guangxiensis),草间钻头蛛（Hylyphantes graminicola),幼豹蛛（Pardosa pusiola),布立毛蚁（Paratrechina bourbonica)是群落的主体,且分析了香蕉园4个亚群落的时,空结构,数量波动及其与蕉园生态环境的相互关系。     

Intraguild predation does not necessarily have negative effects on pest biological control: insights from a multiple consumer-multiple resource food web population model

BioControl - We develop a food web population dynamic model based on an experimental pest biocontrol setup consisting of thrips and aphids (pests) being consumed by two agents Macrolophus pygmaeus...     

Differential cannibalism and population dynamics in a host-parasitoid system

The effects of host cannibalism on a host-parasitoid system were explored through experiment and modelling. In individual encounters between parasitized and unparasitized Plodia interpunctella larvae, parasitized larvae were more likely to be cannibalized. Inclusion of this differential cannibalism into a simple Lotka-Volterra-type model of host-parasitoid population dynamics generates alternative stable states-including stable coexistence and extinction of the parasitoid — which depend on starting conditions. Possible mechanisms for differential cannibalism, and its implications for studies of host-parasitoid populations and biological control programmes are discussed.     

Molecular ecology and biological control: the mating system of a marsupial pest

Many studies in molecular ecology have focused on the use of repeat DNA markers to determine the nature of mating systems in a wide variety of animal species. Whilst these studies typically have focused on important issues such as the evolutionary consequences of fitness variation among males, genetic studies of mating systems are potentially also important because they can generate information of significance to wider issues in wildlife management. For example, genetically modified, sexually transmitted viral diseases have been suggested as potential agents for the control of vertebrate pest species. An understanding of the epidemiology of such agents requires an intimate knowledge of the sexual contact rates between individuals of the target species. Here, we report the use of minisatellite DNA profiling to reveal the mating system in two New Zealand populations of the introduced Australian brushtail possum. The brushtail possum is New Zealand's most important mammalian pest and a species for which control by a sexually transmitted immunocontraceptive has been proposed. Encouragingly, we report considerable variation in the reproductive success of males at both study sites, with one male siring offspring from four females in one year (mean no. of offspring/reproductively successful male/year at the two sites is 1.95-2.15), while many sired none. This bias in the pattern of reproductive success among males will probably facilitate the spread of an immunocontraceptive agent and thereby increase the power of this approach to biological control.     

Egg limitation in host-parasitoid dynamics: an individual-based perspective

Theoretical models of parasitoid-host dynamics predict that egg limitation in parasitoids destabilizes community dynamics. However, although egg limitation is experienced by individual parasitoids with variable success of encountering hosts, such details were neglected in previous models. This study developed an individual-based parasitoid-host model that explicitly incorporates egg limitation and host encounters of individual parasitoids. The model indicates that the combination of egg limitation and variation in the success of encountering hosts stabilizes parasitoid-host dynamics. The stabilizing mechanism emerges from Jensen’s inequality because egg limitation makes the number of offspring inherently concave down in the number of encountered hosts. Reasons for the inconsistent predictions of the effect of egg limitation between the current model and previous models are discussed.     

农业措施在害虫种群无公害控制中的作用

作物抗性品种、布局、耕作制度以及栽培管理等农业措施可以有效地调节害虫的种群数量,合理和综合运用这些措施,可以实现害虫生态调控的目的,从而为农作物的无公害生产提供新的植保技术。本文从农业措施在害虫控制中的直接作用、对天敌昆虫的影响等方面进行了综述,同时对利用农业措施控制害虫的几个问题进行了探讨,以期为合理利用和正确评价农业措施控制害虫提供参考。     

Traveling electrical waves in cortex: insights from phase dynamics and speculation on a computational role

The theory of coupled phase oscillators provides a framework to understand the emergent properties of networks of neuronal oscillators. When the architecture of the network is dominated by short-range connections, the pattern of electrical output is predicted to correspond to traveling plane and rotating waves, in addition to synchronized output. We argue that this theory provides the foundation for understanding the traveling electrical waves that are observed across olfactory, visual, and visuomotor areas of cortex in a variety of species. The waves are typically present during periods outside of stimulation, while synchronous activity typically dominates in the presence of a strong stimulus. We suggest that the continuum of phase shifts during epochs with traveling waves provides a means to scan the incoming sensory stream for novel features. Experiments to test our theoretical approach are presented.     

The role of biological control in wildlands

Use of classical biological control to suppress invasive plants or insects is often an important component of programs for the conservation and restoration of wildlands. Its use contributes to preservation of native biodiversity, maintenance of ecosystem services from wildlands, and protection of sources of natural resources for human societies. Use of classical biological control in wildlands is a form of planned, beneficial invasion and its effective use requires careful integration of conservation biologists and biological control scientists to define ecological goals for projects and to investigate and judge the potential safety of biological control agents proposed for release. Greater cooperation between these groups is essential for expanded and safe use of this process.     

Metabolic control analysis: biological applications and insights

Metabolic control analysis provides a robust mathematical and theoretical framework for describing metabolic and signaling pathways and networks, and for quantifying the controls over these processes. Its application has already shed light on some of the principles underlying the regulation of metabolic pathways, and it is well suited to the analysis of the types of data emerging from genomic studies.     

Production and use of biological pest control agents

Biological pest control agents are gaining prominence for the control of insect pests in agriculture and forestry. The shift from chemical control has been due to environmental concerns and recent innovations in biotechnology. Production and use of biological insect control agents is the challenge of the future for pest management.     

The role of prey taxis in biological control: a spatial theoretical model

We study a reaction-diffusion-advection model for the dynamics of populations under biological control. A control agent is assumed to be a predator species that has the ability to perceive the heterogeneity of pest distribution. The advection term represents the predator density movement according to a basic prey taxis assumption: acceleration of predators is proportional to the prey density gradient. The prey population reproduces logistically, and the local population interactions follow the Holling Type II trophic function. On the scale of the population, our spatially explicit approach subdivides the predation process into random movement represented by diffusion, directed movement described by prey taxis, local prey encounters, and consumption modeled by the trophic function. Thus, our model allows studying the effects of large-scale predator spatial activity on population dynamics. We show under which conditions spatial patterns are generated by prey taxis and how this affects the predator ability to maintain the pest population below some economic threshold. In particular, intermediate taxis activity can stabilize predator-pest populations at a very low level of pest density, ensuring successful biological control. However, very intensive prey taxis destroys the stability, leading to chaotic dynamics with pronounced outbreaks of pest density.     

Antagonism between two natural enemies improves biological control of a coffee pest: The importance of dominance hierarchies

The relationship between two natural enemies of Coccus viridis (green coffee scale), an important hempiteran coffee pest was determined using a combination of experimental and observational approaches. Adult and larval forms of Azya orbigera, a coccinellid beetle predator were included on leaves of coffee plants with healthy scale populations resulting in lower proportions of scales infected with the second natural enemy, an entomopathogenic fungus (Lecanicillium lecanii). C. viridis populations on leaves where A. orbigera were excluded exhibited twice as much fungal infection by L. lecanii. In addition, field surveys of C. viridis populations on whole coffee plants corroborated experimental findings with eight times less fungal infection for coffee plants where A. orbigera was present than for plants where the predator was absent a month prior to surveys of L. lecanii. Despite a reduction in fungal infection in both the experiment and survey, the presence of the beetle reduced overall biological control of the pest only in the experiment where the receiver of the antagonism (L. lecanii) was more dominant in controlling C. viridis than the instigator of the antagonism (A. orbigera). In the survey, A. orbigera was dominant over L. lecanii, resulting in equal to greater levels of biological control depending on the degree to which A. orbigera was dominant over L. lecanii. Our results indicate that a negative relationship exists between A. orbigera and L. lecanii, but that contrary to expectations, this antagonism may in some cases improve overall biological control of the shared pest target.     

Comparative dynamics of three models for host-parasitoid interactions in a patchy environment

Phenomenological models represent a simplified approach to the study of complex systems such as host-parasitoid interactions. In this paper we compare the dynamics of three phenomenological models for host-parasitoid interactions developed by May (1978), May and Hassell (1981) and May et al. (1981). The essence of the paper by May and Hassell (1981) was to define a minimum number of parameters that would describe the interactions, avoiding the technical difficulties encountered when using models that involve many parameters, yet yielding a system of equations that could capture the essence of real world interactions in patchy environments. Those studies dealt primarily with equilibrium and coexistence phenomena. Here we study the dynamics through bifurcation analysis and phase portraits in a much wider range of parameter values, carrying the models beyond equilibrium states. We show that the dynamics can be either stable or chaotic depending on the location of a damping term in the equations. In the case of the stable system, when host density dependence acts first, a stable point is reached, followed by a closed invariant curve in phase space that first increases then decreases, finally returning to an asymptotically stable point. Chaos is not seen. On the other hand, when parasitoid attack occurs before host density dependence, chaos is inevitably apparent. We show, as did May et al. (1981) and stated earlier byWang and Gutierrez (1980), that the sequence of events in host-parasitoid interactions is crucial in determining their stability. In a chaotic state the size of the host (e.g., insect pests) population becomes unpredictable, frequently becoming quite large, a biologically undesirable outcome. From a mathematical point of view the system is of interest because it reveals how a strategically placed damping term can dramatically alter the outcome. Our study, reaching beyond equilibrium states, suggests a strategy for biological control different from that of May et al. (1981).