Höller Carsten, Hörmann Regina
Institut für Phytopathologie, Universität Kiel, Hermann-Rodewald-Strasse 9, W-2300, Kiel 1, Germany.
Oecologia. 1993 May;94(1):128-134. doi: 10.1007/BF00317313.
The aim of this study was to test if females of the aphid hyperparasitoid Dendrocerus carpenteri (Curtis produce patch marks. We tested if these marks inform a foraging female of the identity of the producer of the mark (the female herself or a conspecific female) and on the producer's success or failure in finding hosts in the marked area. We also tested if the responses to patch marks differ depending on the size and/or egg load of the female. On average, females walked shorter paths and spent less time in previously explored areas in comparison to control areas only if the area had first been explored successfully (host found) by a conspecific female. If no host had been found or if the area had been explored by the same female previously, no differences between average values were recoreded. However, egg load also seemed to influence foraging decisions in those experiments where average values were not different between previously explored and control areas. Females with a low egg load tended to spend less time in previously explored areas than females with a high egg load. Average values therefore somehow obscured the individual responses to pathc marks. The results suggest that at least D. carpenteri females with a low egg load continuously apply a marking pheromone while walking. This pheromone seems to contain information on the identity of the producer. In addition, different pheromones seem to be applied depending on whether or not hosts are present in the area.
本研究的目的是测试蚜虫超寄生蜂木匠枝跗瘿蜂（Dendrocerus carpenteri，Curtis）的雌性是否会产生斑块标记。我们测试了这些标记是否能让觅食的雌性了解标记生产者（雌性自身或同种雌性）的身份，以及生产者在标记区域寻找宿主的成功或失败情况。我们还测试了对斑块标记的反应是否因雌性的大小和/或卵负载量而异。平均而言，只有在该区域首先被同种雌性成功探索（找到宿主）的情况下，与仅作为对照的区域相比，雌性在先前探索过的区域行走的路径更短，花费的时间更少。如果没有找到宿主，或者该区域先前已被同一只雌性探索过，则未记录到平均值之间的差异。然而，在先前探索区域和对照区域平均值没有差异的那些实验中，卵负载量似乎也会影响觅食决策。卵负载量低的雌性往往比卵负载量高的雌性在先前探索过的区域花费的时间更少。因此，平均值在某种程度上掩盖了个体对斑块标记的反应。结果表明，至少卵负载量低的木匠枝跗瘿蜂雌性在行走时会持续释放一种标记信息素。这种信息素似乎包含关于生产者身份的信息。此外，根据该区域是否存在宿主，似乎会释放不同的信息素。
