Bottom-Up and Top-Down Effects Influence Bruchid Beetle Individual Performance but Not Population Densities in the Field

Zaugg, Isabelle; Benrey, Betty; Bacher, Sven

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0055317

Cited by 28 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 75 publications

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“…Physical features of the seeds are known to affect beetle oviposition behavior and the ability of larvae to burrow into the seed (Chavan et al, 1997;Plaza, 2001;Boeke et al, 2004). Similarly, nutritional and defense chemical compounds present in the testa and inside the seed are known to interfere with the development and affect the survival of seed beetles (Goossens et al, 2000;Moraes et al, 2000;Silva et al, 2004), and their concentrations can differ between wild and cultivated accessions (Sotelo et al, 1995;Zaugg et al, 2013). Particularly, for Z. subfasciatus, earlier studies have documented differences in its performance when reared on cultivated or wild beans (Schoonhoven et al, 1983;Benrey et al, 1998;Campan and Benrey, 2006), as well as differential performance of beetles on wild seed populations that vary in their protein or phenolic content (Moreira et al, 2015;Hernandez-Cumplido et al, 2016).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Throughout their distribution range in Mesoamerica, cultivated and wild bean plants coexist in sympatry (Gepts, 1988;Piñero and Eguiarte, 1988;Martínez-Castillo et al, 2014;Silva et al, 2017), allowing for a frequent exchange of insects and pathogens between wild and cultivated forms (Leroi et al, 1990;Lindig-Cisneros et al, 1997;Alvarez et al, 2007;Zaugg et al, 2013). It is well documented that herbivorous insects that achieve pest status usually continue to exist in natural habitats alongside managed ones (Mitchell et al, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Large Seed Size of Domesticated Lima Beans Mitigates Intraspecific Competition among Seed Beetle Larvae

2017

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The domestication of beans has selected for larger seeds in cultivated plants compared to their wild relatives. This has not only resulted in an enhanced resource for humans, but also for the insects that feed on these seeds. Seed beetles that attack wild and cultivated seeds often lay several eggs on a single seed. We hypothesized that the larger seed size of domesticated beans will mitigate the competition among the larvae that hatch from these eggs, with important implications for their growth and survival. To test this we examined how seed size of wild and cultivated Phaseolus lunatus (lima bean) affect the performance of the Mexican bean weevil Zabrotes subfasciatus, an important pest of beans in Mexico. A negative correlation was found between the initial number of eggs on a seed and the weight of female beetles that emerged, but only for the much smaller wild seeds. Similarly, beetle survival was found to be negatively correlated with competition intensity only on wild seeds. Our results imply that by selecting for larger seeds, domestication of P. lunatus has reduced the intensity of intraspecific larval competition of Z. subfasciatus.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Large Seed Size of Domesticated Lima Beans Mitigates Intraspecific Competition among Seed Beetle Larvae

2017

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“…Therefore, artificial selection on plant morphology and chemistry can alter the abundance and within‐plant distribution of insect herbivores (Chen & Welter, ; Michaud & Grant, ; Hoffman & Rao, ). Once nymphs or larvae are feeding on a plant, variation in the chemical resistance and nutritional quality may strongly affect the likelihood of insect herbivore survival and developmental rate (Chen & Welter, ; Harvey & Gols, ; Zaugg et al., ). Finally, changes in the quality or amount of plant resources can mediate competition among herbivores (Denno et al., ).…”

Section: How Does Selection On Plant Traits Targeted By Domesticationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Complex tritrophic interactions in response to crop domestication: predictions from the wild

Chen

Gols

Stratton

et al. 2015

Entomologia Exp Applicata

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Crop domestication is the process of artificially selecting plants to increase their suitability to human tastes and cultivated growing conditions. There is increasing evidence that crop domestication can profoundly alter interactions among plants, herbivores, and their natural enemies. However, there are few generalizable predictions on how insect herbivores and natural enemies should respond to artificial selection of specific plant traits. We reviewed the literature to determine how different insect herbivore feeding guilds and natural enemy groups (parasitoids and predators) respond to existing variation in wild and cultivated plant populations for plant traits typically targeted by domestication. Our goal was to look for broad patterns in tritrophic interactions to generate support for a range of potential outcomes from human-mediated selection. Overall, we found that herbivores benefit from directional selection on traits that have been targeted by domestication, but the effects on natural enemies were less studied and less consistent. In general, herbivores appear to mirror human preferences for higher nutritional content and larger plant structures. In contrast, the general effect of lowered plant secondary metabolites did not always influence herbivores consistently. Given that crop domestication appears to be a transformative process that fundamentally alters insect-plant interactions, we believe that a more detailed understanding of the community-wide effects of crop domestication is needed to simultaneously stimulate both biological control and plant breeding efforts to enhance sustainable pest control.

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“…In Central Mexico, seeds of both species exhibit high rates of attack by three species of bruchid beetles (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), namely: Acanthoscelides obtectus, A. obvelatus, and Zabrotes subfasciatus ( Figure S1) (Alvarez et al, 2005;Zaugg et al, 2013). These species are specialised on the genus Phaseolus and co-occur on the same host plants.…”

Section: Study Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In Central Mexico, the most common natural enemies of these bruchids are three parasitic wasps of the genus Horismenus (H. missouriensis, H. butcheri, and H. depressus; Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) and Stenocorse bruchivora (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) ( Figure S1) (Hansson et al, 2004;Bonet, 2008;Zaugg et al, 2013). These solitary ectoparasitoids wasps are specialised on bean-feeding bruchid beetles (Aebi et al, 2008;Zaugg et al, 2013), and attack third and fourth instar larvae (Campan & Benrey, 2004). Other parasitoid wasps also found at our study sites were Dinarmus basalis, Eupelmus sp., Chryseida sp., Microdontomerus sp., but these are usually present in much lower abundances.…”

Section: Study Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plant species variation in bottom‐up effects across three trophic levels: a test of traits and mechanisms

Moreira

Abdala‐Roberts²,

Hernández‐Cumplido

et al. 2015

Ecological Entomology

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1. An increasing number of studies have addressed the mechanisms by which plant inter-specific variation influence interactions at higher trophic levels, but little is known about the underlying plant traits driving these dynamics.2. Here we investigated the effects of host plant species on herbivore-parasitoid interactions and the underlying traits driving such effects. For this, we measured the abundance of seed-eating bruchids and their parasitoids across seven sympatric populations of the bean species Phaseolus coccineus and Phaseolus vulgaris in Central Mexico. To investigate the mechanisms underlying differences between bean species in bruchid-parasitoid interactions, we carried out two laboratory experiments to test whether bruchid and parasitoid performance differed between plant species. We also measured seed size and phenolic compounds to investigate if seed traits mediate bruchid-parasitoid interactions by influencing herbivore susceptibility or resistance to parasitoids.3. Field surveys revealed that the rate of parasitoid recruitment to bruchids was significantly higher on P. vulgaris than on P. coccineus. Subsequent laboratory bioassays indicated that bruchids developed more slowly and exhibited lower fitness on P. vulgaris seeds than on P. coccineus seeds. Accordingly, we found that bean species differed in seed size, with P. vulgaris having smaller (less nutritious) seeds, which explains why bruchid development was slower on this plant species. 4. These results provide a mechanism for why bruchids exhibited higher parasitism rates on seeds of P. vulgaris in the field which could be due to Slow-Growth/ High-Mortality effects, a smaller physical refuge provided by the seed, or both factors. The roles of these mechanisms remain inconclusive without further study.

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Bottom-Up and Top-Down Effects Influence Bruchid Beetle Individual Performance but Not Population Densities in the Field

Cited by 28 publications

References 75 publications

The Large Seed Size of Domesticated Lima Beans Mitigates Intraspecific Competition among Seed Beetle Larvae

The Large Seed Size of Domesticated Lima Beans Mitigates Intraspecific Competition among Seed Beetle Larvae

Complex tritrophic interactions in response to crop domestication: predictions from the wild

Plant species variation in bottom‐up effects across three trophic levels: a test of traits and mechanisms

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