Department of Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC V5A 1S6, Canada.
Biology Department, University of the Fraser Valley, Abbotsford, BC V2S 7M8, Canada.
J Invertebr Pathol. 2021 Feb;179:107534. doi: 10.1016/j.jip.2021.107534. Epub 2021 Jan 8.
Autodissemination techniques can potentially be used to distribute insecticides, including microbial insecticides, to cryptic pests. This approach is reliant on the target insect either passing the pathogen passively to other insects or the pathogen cycling within the population after the initial host dies. Here we examine, in small scale experiments, whether male Agriotes obscurus click beetles passively transmit the spores of the fungus Metarhizium brunneum directly, or indirectly via the environment, and whether this is influenced by exposure to synthetic female pheromone. We found that the beetles did not avoid M. brunneum spores and that this behaviour was not affected by pheromone. Exposure to pheromone increased beetle movement and uptake of spores, but this did not result in an increase in infected beetles under our conditions. Beetles were able to transfer spores at high levels via environmental contamination. However, contamination of the environment declined rapidly after exposure to the spores. The results are discussed in the context of developing an autodissemination strategy for click beetles.
自散布技术可用于将杀虫剂（包括微生物杀虫剂）分发到隐蔽的害虫中。这种方法依赖于目标昆虫被动地将病原体传递给其他昆虫，或者在初始宿主死亡后病原体在种群内循环。在这里，我们在小规模实验中研究了 Agriotes obscurus 叩头甲虫是否会被动地直接传递真菌 Metarhizium brunneum 的孢子，或者是否会通过环境间接传递，以及这种情况是否会受到合成雌性信息素的影响。我们发现，甲虫不会避免接触 M. brunneum 孢子，并且这种行为不受信息素的影响。接触信息素会增加甲虫的运动和孢子的吸收，但在我们的条件下，这并没有导致感染甲虫的增加。甲虫可以通过环境污染以高浓度转移孢子。然而，暴露于孢子后，环境污染迅速下降。结果在发展叩头甲虫自散布策略的背景下进行了讨论。
