Saunders Thomas E, Manning Lee-Anne M, Park Kye Chung, Holwell Gregory I, Avila Gonzalo A
Te Kura Mātauranga Koiora, School of Biological Sciences, Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand.
The New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research Limited, Auckland, New Zealand.
J Chem Ecol. 2025 May 28;51(3):60. doi: 10.1007/s10886-025-01616-z.
Current approaches to assessing potential non-target risks associated with biological control agents are conservative, and they often rely on oviposition experiments conducted in quarantine laboratories. By their nature, such tests offer robust evidence of a parasitoid's ability to attack and develop in a host. However, they exclude many important chemical cues present in the natural environment, which play a key role in the ability of a parasitoid to search for and locate hosts. We conducted a series of experiments with Trissolcus basalis and Trissolcus oenone to better understand the chemical basis mediating differences in host-specificity between these parasitoids. First, we compared the searching behaviour of T. basalis and T. oenone in open arena arrestment bioassays contaminated with footprint compounds of Nezara viridula or Cuspicona simplex. Trissolcus basalis spent four times longer searching for N. viridula than C. simplex, while T. oenone spent four times longer searching for C. simplex than N. viridula. We then conducted competition experiments to assess factors important to determining the outcomes of extrinsic and intrinsic contests between these parasitoids when they are simultaneously exposed to C. simplex egg masses. Trissolcus oenone was the superior competitor in extrinsic and intrinsic contests. Finally, we recorded the antennal responses of T. basalis to egg extracts of N. viridula, to tentatively identify potential contact kairomones used by this parasitoid to recognise and accept hosts. We discuss our results in the context of combining behavioural and chemical ecological techniques for pre-release risk assessments of classical biological control agents.
当前评估与生物防治剂相关的潜在非靶标风险的方法较为保守，且通常依赖于在检疫实验室中进行的产卵实验。就其本质而言，此类测试能有力证明寄生蜂攻击宿主并在宿主体内发育的能力。然而，它们排除了自然环境中存在的许多重要化学信号，而这些信号在寄生蜂寻找和定位宿主的能力中起着关键作用。我们用基底三叉蚜茧蜂和欧诺三叉蚜茧蜂进行了一系列实验，以更好地理解介导这些寄生蜂宿主特异性差异的化学基础。首先，我们在被稻绿蝽或单纯尖缘蝽足迹化合物污染的开放场地滞留生物测定中比较了基底三叉蚜茧蜂和欧诺三叉蚜茧蜂的搜索行为。基底三叉蚜茧蜂搜索稻绿蝽的时间比搜索单纯尖缘蝽的时间长四倍，而欧诺三叉蚜茧蜂搜索单纯尖缘蝽的时间比搜索稻绿蝽的时间长四倍。然后，我们进行了竞争实验，以评估在这些寄生蜂同时接触单纯尖缘蝽卵块时，对确定它们外在和内在竞争结果重要的因素。欧诺三叉蚜茧蜂在外在和内在竞争中都是更具优势的竞争者。最后，我们记录了基底三叉蚜茧蜂对稻绿蝽卵提取物的触角反应，以初步确定这种寄生蜂用于识别和接受宿主的潜在接触利它素。我们在结合行为和化学生态技术对经典生物防治剂进行释放前风险评估的背景下讨论了我们的结果。
