Resource-dependent mutual association with sap-feeders and a high predation rate in the ant Crematogaster scutellaris: help or harm in olive pest control?

Frizzi, Filippo; Masoni, Alberto; Ottonetti, Lorenzo; Tucci, Lorenzo; Santini, Giacomo

doi:10.1007/s10526-020-10028-9

Cited by 6 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 80 publications

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“…A number of studies have successfully tested if feeding with artificial sugar sources can effectively distract ants from attending harmful plant sap feeding homopterans on crop plants, including apples, vine, citrus, olives and pumpkins. 17,[34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41] In these studies carbohydrates have been offered as sucrose solutions, mixed sugar solutions or solutions based on honey, and in various carbohydrate concentrations. All studies led to decreased levels of aphid tending and most studies also detected reduced homopteran abundance on the crop plants.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Implementing wood ants in biocontrol: Suppression of apple scab and reduced aphid tending

Jensen

Hansen

Damgaard

et al. 2023

Pest Management Science

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BACKGROUND Ants can become efficient biocontrol agents in plantation crops as they prey on pest insects and may inhibit plant pathogens by excreting broad‐spectrum antibiotics. However, ants also provide a disservice by augmenting attended honeydew producing homopterans. This disservice may be avoided by offering ants artificial sugar as an alternative to honeydew. Here we tested the effect of artificial sugar feeding on aphid abundance in an apple plot with wood ants (Formica polyctena, Förster), and tested the effect of ant presence on apple scab (Venturia inaequalis, Cooke) disease incidence. RESULTS Over a 2‐year period, sugar feeding eliminated ant‐attended aphid populations on the apple trees. Furthermore, scab symptoms on both leaves and apples were reduced considerably on ant trees compared to control trees without ants. The presence of ants on the trees reduced leaf scab infections by 34%, whereas spot numbers on fruits were reduced by between 53 and 81%, depending on apple variety. In addition, the spots were 56% smaller. CONCLUSION This shows that problems with wood ant‐attended homopterans can be solved and that ants can control both insect pests and plant pathogens. We therefore propose wood ants as a new effective biocontrol agent suitable for implementation in apple orchards and possibly other plantation crops. © 2023 The Authors. Pest Management Science published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Implementing wood ants in biocontrol: Suppression of apple scab and reduced aphid tending

Jensen

Hansen

Damgaard

et al. 2023

Pest Management Science

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“…In Rashad, it is estimated that ants can consume about 13 to 17% of the leaf biomass of woody plants annually (Eisawi et al 2021). Ants can also act as predators, controlling the population of agricultural pests (Harvey and Eubanks 2004;Frizzi et al 2020) or as seed dispersers (Aranda-Rickert and Fracchia 2012) particularly these contain some attractive seed appendage (Munguía-Rosas et al 2009). Another important ecological service is the removal of organic biomass from the surface to the subsoil, which improves the nutritional qualities of the soil (Chen et al 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variation in the rates of biomass removal by soil macro-fauna in different land uses at Rashad, South Kordofan, Sudan

Eisawi¹,

Subedi²,

Yasin³

et al. 2022

TRAVAUX

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One of the main implications of reducing biodiversity is the loss or decline of ecosystem function. We have previously seen in the Rashad location that agricultural practices have a lower effect on ant biodiversity. However, how they affect the environmental services, they provide is unclear. The main objective of this study was to evaluate whether the conversion of native areas into agricultural systems affects the removal of biomass carried out by ants, an important ecosystem function linked to decomposition and predation. We sampled three transects from (the Rashad district). Each sampling plot consisted of a grid of 12 pitfall traps filled with sardine baits (simulating animal organisms) and bananas (as attractive vegetable resources). In addition, grass seeds (Sorghum bicolor) were applied in both natural (Campo, Kubos, and forest) and agricultural settings (soy monoculture, pastures, and organic agriculture). The Results showed that ant’s removal was highest in sardine with an average of 87.3g (σ ± 23.8), followed by banana (average of 70.5g, σ ± 31.5) and lowest in the seed (mean of 7.8g, σ ± 7.3) (highest p = 0.017). Only the soy monoculture regions showed the lowest levels of sardine removed, indicating an effect associated with the kind of land use. Because little biomass is eliminated in both natural and agricultural settings, no effect of the seeds bait has been observed. As for the banana bait, the data suggested a redundancy effect with another group of macro-fauna). Our results suggest that there is a redundancy effect with another group of macrofauna. However, macrofauna biomass (excluding ants) does not explain this biomass removal. In addition, it detected no impact of ant species composition on removed biomass. The reduction of sardine and banana biomass was correlated with ant richness, indicating that the effects on ecosystem function depend on the particularities of each evaluated role (such as resource type), the type of land use, and the ant richness in the study area.

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“…In this study, we aim to investigate the role of stridulation in ants focusing on the Mediterranean acrobat ant, Crematogaster scutellaris (Olivier 1972). This common and dominant tree-nesting ant has been chosen as a model species because the structure of the workers' stridulatory organ is well known 43,44 , and many details of its behaviour and ecology have been recently clarified [45][46][47][48][49] . However, stridulatory behaviour and related substrateborne vibrations are still unknown.…”

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confidence: 99%

Ants modulate stridulatory signals depending on the behavioural context

Masoni

Frizzi

Nieri

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

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Insect societies require an effective communication system to coordinate members’ activities. Although eusocial species primarily use chemical communication to convey information to conspecifics, there is increasing evidence suggesting that vibroacoustic communication plays a significant role in the behavioural contexts of colony life. In this study, we sought to determine whether stridulation can convey information in ant societies. We tested three main hypotheses using the Mediterranean ant Crematogaster scutellaris: (i) stridulation informs about the emitter’caste; (ii) workers can modulate stridulation based on specific needs, such as communicating the profitability of a food resource, or (iii) behavioural contexts. We recorded the stridulations of individuals from the three castes, restrained on a substrate, and the signals emitted by foragers workers feeding on honey drops of various sizes. Signals emitted by workers and sexuates were quantitatively and qualitatively distinct as was stridulation emitted by workers on different honey drops. Comparing across the experimental setups, we demonstrated that signals emitted in different contexts (restraining vs feeding) differed in emission patterns as well as certain parameters (dominant frequency, amplitude, duration of chirp). Our findings suggest that vibrational signaling represents a flexible communication channel paralleling the well-known chemical communication system.

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Resource-dependent mutual association with sap-feeders and a high predation rate in the ant Crematogaster scutellaris: help or harm in olive pest control?

Cited by 6 publications

References 80 publications

Implementing wood ants in biocontrol: Suppression of apple scab and reduced aphid tending

Implementing wood ants in biocontrol: Suppression of apple scab and reduced aphid tending

Variation in the rates of biomass removal by soil macro-fauna in different land uses at Rashad, South Kordofan, Sudan

Ants modulate stridulatory signals depending on the behavioural context

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