Conservation biological control of spirea aphid, Aphis spiraecola (Hemiptera: Aphididae) on apple by providing natural alternative food resources

Abstract

Abstract. Enhancing biological control in orchards is an efficient way to control insect pests. This study investigates the possibility of increasing biological control of spirea aphid by providing alternate food resources, in the form of peach extrafloral nectar, to adult Harmonia axyridis, its primary predator. Two pairs of apple orchards, each having one interplanted with 50% trees bearing extrafloral nectar and one a monoculture, were studied for aphid and predator populations from 1999 to 2005. There were no differences in spirea aphid or predator populations between interplanted and monoculture orchards. However, H. axyridis adults arrived earlier in the interplanted than in the monoculture orchards. In another apple orchard, the effect of peach extrafloral nectar on sentinel spirea aphid colonies surrounding a cluster of potted peach trees, or a cluster of apple trees as a control, was tested in 2007. Only the closest spirea colonies to the potted peach trees, trees within 3 m, showed an increase in biological control. Although there was some indication of enhancement of predation by adult H. axyridis on spirea aphids, adding alternative food resources in the form of peach trees bearing extrafloral nectar resulted in no detectable increase in biological control.

Role of biodiversity in integrated fruit production in eastern North American orchards

“…Increased diversity of tree fruit species was hypothesized to result in lower pest abundance as a result of either increased natural enemies (Russell, 1989) or dilution of host plants (Kareiva, 1983). Two aphid species Aphis spiraecola Patch and Dysaphis plantaginea (Passerini) (Heteroptera: Aphididae) were also studied from 1997 to 2001 (Brown & Mathews, 2007, 2008). The results from studies on these species also compared the effect of monoculture versus polyculture because aphid and aphid predator activity ended before the blooming of companion plants.…”

“…The results from studies on these species also compared the effect of monoculture versus polyculture because aphid and aphid predator activity ended before the blooming of companion plants. Aphis spiraecola abundance was not affected by the increased diversity of fruit tree species (Brown & Mathews, 2008). Dysaphis plantaginea populations, however, were greater in the monoculture than in the polyculture treatments (Brown & Mathews, 2007).…”

A review of the sentinel prey method as a way of quantifying invertebrate predation under field conditions

“…The most common prey used were Lepidoptera (n = 43, 18 species), Coleoptera (n = 17, 10 species), Hemiptera (n = 15, 6 species), and Diptera (n = 5, 4 species). Eggs were the most frequently used life stage (n = 52), followed by larvae (n = 14), pupae or nymphs (n = 11); only 3 studies (Brown & Mathews, 2008;Winqvist et al, 2011;Ximenez-Embun et al, 2014) used adults. Sentinels were mostly immobilised (n = 10) or naturally immobile (n = 62), but not always (n = 8), with 6 experiments (Mathews et al, 2004;Wiebe & Obrycki, 2004;Chen & Ruberson, 2008;Hong et al, 2011;Mathews et al, 2011;Lee & Edwards, 2012) using mobile and immobile prey simultaneously.…”

Aphis pomi and Aphis spiraecola (Hemiptera: Sternorrhyncha: Aphididae) in Europe - new information on their distribution, molecular and morphological peculiarities

“…Their distribution, morphology, life cycles and host specificity have therefore been subjected to intensive study, together with their potential harmfulness and plant protection measures (Grasswitz & Burts, 1995;Tsai & Wang, 2001;Brown et al, 2008;Stoeckli et al, 2008;Frechette et al, 2008;Brown, 2011;Wieczorek et al, 2011;Cao et al, 2012). The apple aphid is monoecious and holocyclic on woody pomoideous hosts, with apterous males (Baker & Turner, 1916;Patch, 1923;Westigard & Madsen, 1964;Karczewska, 1965;Rakauskas & Rupais, 1983).…”