Should I fight or should I flight? How studying insect aggression can help integrated pest management

Abstract

Aggression plays a key role all across the animal kingdom, as it allows the acquisition and/or defence of limited resources (food, mates and territories) in a huge number of species. A large part of our knowledge on aggressive behaviour has been developed on insects of economic importance. How can this knowledge be exploited to enhance integrated pest management? Here, I highlight how knowledge on intraspecific aggression can help IPM both in terms of insect pests (with a focus on the enhancement of the sterile insect technique) and in terms of biological control agents (with a focus on mass-rearing optimisation). Then, I examine what implications for IPM can be outlined from knowledge about interspecific aggressive behaviour. Besides predator-pest aggressive interactions predicted by classic biological control, I focus on what IPM can learn from (i) interspecific aggression among pest species (with special reference to competitive displacement), (ii) defensive behaviour exhibited by prey against predaceous insects and (iii) conflicts among predaceous arthropods sharing the same trophic niche (with special reference to learning/sensitisation practices and artificial manipulation of chemically mediated interactions).

Attack and defense movements involved in the interaction of Spodoptera frugiperda and Helicoverpa zea (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

“…A knowledge of aggressive and defensive movements among pests who share the same guild is valuable information for IPM (Benelli 2015). The understanding of intraspecific and interspecific interaction is necessary to better understand how these contests might affect population dynamics and competitive displacement of pest species that share a given ecological niche.…”

“…In addition, the understanding of intraspecific and interspecific interactions will be useful to better understand how competitive displacement occurs between pest species sharing a given ecological niche, and consequently enhance integrated pest management strategies (Benelli 2015). This study has the objective to evaluate intraspecific and interspecific larval interaction between S. frugiperda and H. zea based on the characterization of offensive and defensive movements.…”

Current knowledge of the species complex Anastrepha fraterculus (Diptera, Tephritidae) in Brazil

“…Calling males aggregate in the top of host and non-host trees from the first hour after dawn until mid-morning, forming groups in which males fight to defend a small territory where they court females and mate (Segura et al 2007, Benelli et al 2014b). In Anastrepha fraterculus male aggressions are not frequent and/or outcomes are not crucial for mating success (Segura et al 2007, Benelli 2015a, 2015b). The courtship behavior exhibited by Anastrepha fraterculus lekking males is complex and composed of visual, acoustical, and chemical displays (Mankin et al 1996, Segura et al 2007, Gomez Cendra et al 2011).…”

Contests between beneficial natural enemies: brood‐guarding parasitoids vs. foraging predators

“…Individual natural enemies can encounter each other whilst foraging for limited resources and, as pests in agri‐field conditions are often attacked by an array of natural enemies, both intra‐ and inter‐specific competitive interactions may result (Batchelor et al, 2005; Venkatesan, 2009; Boivin et al, 2012; Benelli, 2015). Most prior studies of contests during inter‐specific interactions have focused on parasitoid–parasitoid encounters (Hardy & Blackburn, 1991; Bográn et al, 2002; Pérez‐Lachaud et al, 2002; Batchelor et al, 2005; Venkatesan et al, 2009; Mohamad et al, 2011, 2015; Vankosky & Hoddle, 2017; Yang et al, 2018) with fewer considering direct resource competition between parasitoids and predators (Sloggett et al, 1998; Sloggett & Majerus, 2003; Venkatesan, 2008).…”