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Chemical ecology meets conservation biological control: identifying plant volatiles as predictors of floral resource suitability for an egg parasitoid of stink bugs

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Abstract

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 the stink bug Nezara viridula. Our results showed that access to buckwheat and basil flowers increased the parasitoid offspring. However, in olfactometer experiments where T. basalis was allowed to choose between flowering and non-flowering plants, only buckwheat floral scent was attractive. Headspace analyses of the odour emitted by the four plant species revealed very distinct profiles with little overlap in compounds. Buckwheat floral scent was characterized by an unpleasant smell for the human nose due to the presence of short-chain carboxylic acids. Headspace extracts of buckwheat flowers and a blend of six buckwheat plant volatiles consisting of butanoic, 2-methylbutanoic, 3-methylbutanoic and pentanoic acids, (Z)-3-hexenyl acetate and α-farnesene were significantly attractive in olfactometer bioassays. Furthermore, electrophysiological experiments showed most of these compounds elicited significant responses in T. basalis antennae. Integrating chemo-ecological methods into conservation biological control allowed us to identify a potential resource plant and attractive compounds for field studies.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Jason Breitmeyer for technical assistance with GC–MS analyses. Funding was provided by the Marie Curie International Research Staff Exchange Scheme (IRSES) with the project “Better Understanding of Bugs for Improved Environment”—BUGSIE (PIRSES-GA-2012-317981).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie e Forestali, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, 90128, Palermo, Italy

    Maria Cristina Foti, Ezio Peri, Takoua Slimani & Stefano Colazza

  2. Bio-Protection Research Centre, Lincoln University, PO Box 85084, Lincoln, 7647, New Zealand

    Maria Cristina Foti, Michael Rostás, Takoua Slimani & Stephen David Wratten

  3. New Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research, PB 4704, Christchurch, 8140, New Zealand

    Kye Chung Park

Authors
  1. Maria Cristina Foti
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  2. Michael Rostás
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  3. Ezio Peri
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  4. Kye Chung Park
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  5. Takoua Slimani
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  6. Stephen David Wratten
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  7. Stefano Colazza
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Correspondence to Ezio Peri.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interests regarding this research.

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Communicated by P.G. Becher.

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Foti, M.C., Rostás, M., Peri, E. et al. Chemical ecology meets conservation biological control: identifying plant volatiles as predictors of floral resource suitability for an egg parasitoid of stink bugs. J Pest Sci 90, 299–310 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10340-016-0758-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10340-016-0758-3

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