Effect of diet and feeding history on flight of Colorado potato beetle, Leptinotarsa decemlineata |
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Authors: | Chris J. K. MacQuarrie,& Gilles Boiteau |
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Affiliation: | Potato Research Centre, Agriculture and Agri-food Canada, PO Box 20280, 850 Lincoln Road, Fredericton New Brunswick, E3B 4Z7, Canada;; Population Ecology Group, Department of Biology, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick, E3B 6C2, Canada |
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Abstract: | We evaluated the hypothesis that Colorado potato beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata Say) (CPB) flight frequency is related to diet, and that it changes with duration of food unavailability or exposure to poor quality food by exposing adult overwintered and summer CPB populations to an acceptable host plant (conventional foliage), a poor host (insect resistant transgenic foliage expressing Bacillus thuringiensis tenebrionis[Btt] Cry3a toxin) and no host. Exposure to poor host and no host treatments (with or without water) decreased mean daily flight frequencies and the overall number of overwintered CPB flying, but increased the mean daily flight frequency and number of summer population CPB that flew. Overwintered CPB did not react to an absence of plants at emergence whereas summer CPB increased mean daily flight frequencies when plants and water were not available. The flight response to insect resistant foliage was similar to that for starvation treatments in both populations indicating that flight may not be triggered by Btt toxins but by starvation brought on by feeding on poor quality food. Flight was observed in all treatments for the duration of the test with two exceptions; overwintered beetles fed insect resistant foliage ceased flying after day 17 and summer beetles starved without water ceased after day 8 of a 29‐day study. |
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Keywords: | Colorado potato beetle Leptinotarsa decemlineata flight starving Bacillus thuringiensis tenebrionis Coleoptera Chrysomelidae |
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