Department of Entomology, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521, USA.
Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
Environ Entomol. 2024 Apr 11;53(2):213-222. doi: 10.1093/ee/nvae002.
The diet of adult parasitoid wasps is vital for their survival and reproduction. However, the availability of food resources, such as plant nectar, can vary widely in cropping systems, potentially affecting parasitoid fitness and thereby biological control of pests. The egg parasitoid Hadronotus pennsylvanicus (Ashmead) (Hymenoptera: Scelionidae) is a potential biological control agent of the pistachio pest Leptoglossus zonatus (Dallas) (Heteroptera: Coreidae). While H. pennsylvanicus is known to attack L. zonatus eggs in California, USA, parasitism rates in orchards are highly variable. Floral resource provisioning has the potential to enhance parasitoid longevity and thus improve parasitism rates, leading to reduced pest densities. Here, a combination of field and laboratory studies was used to assess the influence of flowering groundcovers on the reproductive fitness of H. pennsylvanicus and the abundance of L. zonatus. Evaluated groundcovers included oat (Avena sativa L.), cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L.), white mustard (Sinapis alba L.), and buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum Moench). Under laboratory conditions, buckwheat and mustard provided the greatest benefit to female H. pennsylvanicus longevity. However, females provided a buckwheat diet produced the greatest number of offspring over the course of their lifetime. In field trials, flowering groundcovers did not influence the abundance of H. pennsylvanicus nor parasitism rates on L. zonatus. While the availability of floral resources can improve the reproductive fitness of H. pennsylvanicus, the use of groundcovers in pistachio did not enhance biological control of L. zonatus.
成蜂寄生蜂的饮食对其生存和繁殖至关重要。然而，作物系统中植物花蜜等食物资源的可获得性差异很大，这可能会影响寄生蜂的适应性，从而影响对害虫的生物控制。卵寄生蜂 Hadronotus pennsylvanicus (Ashmead)（膜翅目：斯莱顿氏菌科）是美国加利福尼亚州开心果害虫 Leptoglossus zonatus（Dallas）（半翅目：Coreidae）的一种潜在生物防治剂。尽管已知 H. pennsylvanicus 会攻击 L. zonatus 的卵，但在果园中的寄生率却高度可变。花卉资源的提供有可能延长寄生蜂的寿命，从而提高寄生率，降低害虫密度。在这里，结合了田间和实验室研究来评估开花地被对 H. pennsylvanicus 生殖适应性和 L. zonatus 丰度的影响。评估的地被包括燕麦（Avena sativa L.）、豇豆（Vigna unguiculata L.）、白芥菜（Sinapis alba L.）和荞麦（Fagopyrum esculentum Moench）。在实验室条件下，荞麦和芥菜为雌性 H. pennsylvanicus 提供了最长的寿命。然而，提供荞麦饮食的雌性在其一生中产生的后代数量最多。在田间试验中，开花地被物并没有影响 H. pennsylvanicus 的丰度和 L. zonatus 的寄生率。虽然花卉资源的可用性可以提高 H. pennsylvanicus 的生殖适应性，但在开心果中使用地被物并没有增强对 L. zonatus 的生物控制。
