Food web ecologists have long sought to characterize the trophic niches of animals using stable isotopic analysis. However, distilling trophic position from isotopic composition has been difficult, largely because of the variability associated with trophic discrimination factors (inter-trophic isotopic fractionation and routing). We circumvented much of this variability using compound-specific isotopic analysis (CSIA). We examined the 15N signatures of amino acids extracted from organisms reared in pure culture at four discrete trophic levels, across two model communities. We calculated the degree of enrichment at each trophic level and found there was a consistent trophic discrimination factor (~7.6‰). The constancy of the CSIA-derived discrimination factor permitted unprecedented accuracy in the measurement of animal trophic position. Conversely, trophic position estimates generated via bulk-15N analysis significantly underestimated trophic position, particularly among higher-order consumers. We then examined the trophic hierarchy of a free-roaming arthropod community, revealing the highest trophic position (5.07) and longest food chain ever reported using CSIA. High accuracy in trophic position estimation brings trophic function into sharper focus, providing greater resolution to the analysis of food webs.

Methyl salicylate, an herbivore-induced plant volatile, has been shown to attract natural enemies and affect herbivore behavior. In this study, methyl salicylate was examined for its attractiveness to natural enemies of the soybean aphid, Aphis glycines Matsumura (Hemiptera: Aphididae), and for its direct effects on soybean aphid population growth rates. Methyl salicylate lures were deployed in plots within organic soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] fields. Sticky card traps adjacent to and 1.5 m from the lure measured the relative abundance of natural enemies, and soybean aphid populations were monitored within treated and untreated plots. In addition, exclusion cage studies were conducted to determine methyl salicylate's effect on soybean aphid population growth rates in the absence of natural enemies. Significantly greater numbers of syrphid flies (Diptera: Syrphidae) and green lacewings (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae) were caught on traps adjacent to the methyl salicylate lure, but no differences in abundance were found at traps 1.5 m from the lure. Furthermore, abundance of soybean aphids was significantly lower in methyl salicylate-treated plots. In exclusion cage studies, soybean aphid numbers were significantly reduced on treated soybean plants when all plants were open to natural enemies. When plants were caged, however, soybean aphid numbers and population growth rates did not differ between treated and untreated plants suggesting no effect of methyl salicylate on soybean aphid reproduction and implicating the role of natural enemies in depressing aphid populations. Although aphid populations were reduced locally around methyl salicylate lures, larger scale studies are needed to assess the technology at the whole-field scale.

Quick LinksAddThe recent discovery of the soybean aphid, Aphis glycines Matsamura, in the North Central region of the United States is significant because it is the first time that a soybeancolonizing aphid has been detected in the New World. Although the aphid has the potential to cause physiological loss of up to 52% on soybeans (4), it can also transmit Soybean mosaic virus (SMV). Transmission of Alfalfa mosaic virus (AMV) has not been reported. SMV, and less commonly AMV, are found in soybeans in the North Central states and are transmitted by numerous aphids in a nonpersistent manner (2; Grau, unpublished). For SMV, potential exists for specificity of transmission between virus strain and aphid species (3).For these reasons, it was important to determine if an endemic isolate of these viruses could be transmitted by this introduced species of aphid in the North Central region.Transmission experiments were conducted as described (3), using 3, 5, and 10 aphids per

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