Plants experience a wide variety of mechanical stimuli in their environment, some of which indicate the presence of herbivory. Insect feeding vibrations elicit direct and primed increases in levels of defensive compounds. Touch is also a mechanical stimulus arising from rain, wind, and the movement of herbivores and pollinators. In this study, we compared the effect of insect...
Spotted lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula White, (Hemiptera: Fulgoridae)) is a non-native, invasive pest with a broad host range that has rapidly spread since its discovery in the United States in 2014. Managing emerging invasive pests can be challenging as repeated insecticide inputs can lead to resistance and impact non-target organisms. Alternative strategies, such as biological...
The role of nocturnal pollinators has been globally understudied, particularly in agriculture, but growing evidence suggests that crops often assumed to be pollinated during the day also receive additional pollination by night-active animals. In our study, we assessed six different types of evidence to determine whether blueberry flowers, which are typically associated with...
Florivores modify the attributes of flowers while feeding, that affects the behavior and frequency of pollinators that visit flowers and setting of fruits and seed as a result of low pollen deposition. We determined the effect of experimental florivory on pollinators visitations, fruit-set, and seed-set of Opuntia cantabrigiensis. Four treatments were applied on intact flowers...
While most ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) include seeds in their diet, preferences for seed feeding vary among carabid species and range from facultative diet supplementation to obligate seed feeding. DNA-based diet analyses have been used to study their regulatory effect on soil seedbanks. It is unknown whether specialized granivores digest seed species they are adapted...
Baculoviruses are a group of entomopathogenic viruses that are important natural enemies of insects, particularly lepidopteran larvae. An important component of baculovirus transmission efficiency is the frequency with which hosts encounter patchily distributed virions on plants. Little is known about the ecology and bacterial composition of virus-killed cadavers. We used a...
Although diverse wild pollinators contribute to crop pollination, nocturnal pollinators have been largely overlooked. In this study, we focused on buckwheat, which relies on various insect species for pollination. Since buckwheat flowers are believed to close in the evening, earlier studies have exclusively examined the role of diurnal pollinators. However, some buckwheat flowers...
The Canadian Prairies are one of the major agricultural regions of the world in terms of cereal, oilseed and pulse crop production. With few exceptions, major insect pests like grasshoppers, flea beetles, Lygus bugs, wireworms and pea leaf weevils are controlled with insecticides. Wheat stem sawfly is managed through host plant resistance and endemic natural enemies, whereas...
Grain legumes, such as faba bean (Vicia faba L.), are crucial for protein supply and soil fertility enhancement through nitrogen fixation. However, faba bean cultivation is challenged by Lygus plant bugs (Hemiptera: Miridae), which cause significant crop damage and seed quality loss. This study aimed to evaluate Lygus preferences between faba bean and alternative crops to develop...
Co-flowering congeneric plant species may either experience competition for the services of shared pollinators or facilitation when together, they attract a higher number and diversity of pollinators. In this study, we evaluate whether temporal segregation in flowering time and temporal partition of shared pollinators operate among sympatric Anthurium species as mechanisms to...
Planting crops to push or pull pests from a main crop and floral enhancements to attract natural enemies are emerging as pivotal agroecological strategies to shift away from synthetic pesticides. The brassica, Lobularia maritima, has great potential to act as a floral enhancement as it is attractive to many insects and improves the fitness of and biocontrol services provided by...
Lygus bugs (Hemiptera: Miridae) can damage economically important crop plants by feeding on their active growing points, such as the apical meristem and buds, and reproductive organs, such as flower buds, flowers, seeds, and fruits. Plant injury is a combination of mechanical damage by the stylet and the effects of saliva, which contains enzymes that break the plant cells. On...
Typically, honeybees (Apis mellifera L.), rely on waggle dances performed by scout bees to communicate information about fruitful nectar and pollen sources across the landscape. However, when this communication is absent, inaccurate, or when resources become depleted, bees resort to alternative search strategies. Field experiments utilizing harmonic radar have revealed that...
Honey bees play a crucial role in agricultural production. Farmers rely on commercial bee pollination to obtain optimal yields, and beekeepers on the income from pollination fees. However, commercial pollination confronts honey bees with pests and pathogens, pesticides, and low-quality food, which in many cases do not fulfill the minimal nutritional requirements of honey bees. In...
Several Barbarea spp. (Brassicaceae) have been tested as trap crops for the diamondback moth Plutella xylostella L. (Lepidoptera: Plutellidae). The use of trap crops can be affected by their susceptibility to other pests, especially if the purpose is to reduce insecticide use. Barbarea rupicola Moris, B. verna (Mill.) Asch., and B. vulgaris Aiton (types G and P) (Brassicaceae...
Ladybirds (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) are a significant predator group that plays a role in agricultural contexts. They serve as important biocontrol agents against several agricultural pests. However, there is limited information available about how ladybirds’ populations are regulated by their natural enemies and habitat perturbation. In this study, we evaluated ladybird...
Intercropping faba bean with vegetables provides a possibility to promote pest control and better nutrient cycling in sustainable agriculture. Faba bean produces extrafloral nectar which supports parasitoid wasps that play a role in the biological control of pest insects. However, adult lepidopteran pests also benefit from nectar, increasing their lifespan and the number of...
The geographic mosaic model of plant–herbivore coevolution asserts that interactions between a plant species and an herbivore species vary in intensity among populations across the plant’s geographic range. Despite this model’s intuitive appeal, data to investigate its implications for the type of complex, multiple-herbivore communities that occur in nature are scant. This paper...
Myrmecochory is a common mutualism between ants and plants benefiting both partners: ants obtain a nutrient-rich food source, while plants enjoy a host of benefits ranging from enhanced dispersal to protected germination sites. However, this mutualism can be exploited by invasive myrmecochores, where native ants spread invasive plant seeds, possibly to the detriment of native...
Implementation of IPM in arable crops requires affordable monitoring tools. YATLORf traps baited with a synthetic pheromone lure for a target species have proven to be effective for monitoring Europe’s most harmful soil pests: Agriotes spp. After the suitable lure position for each of the main Agriotes species was ascertained, different combinations of lures in the same trap were...
The paper investigates the distributions of legumes (Fabaceae) and their associated seed beetle species (Bruchinae) across vegetation zones and regions of Europe and evaluates the host range and specialization of seed beetles. 1584 legume species/subspecies/varieties were included in the study and ca. 16% of these serve as known hosts by the 175 seed beetle species found in...
Citizen science is an increasingly powerful tool to gather large quantities of biological data and to engage the public. The number of citizen science initiatives has rapidly increased in the last 15 years. Invasive alien species such as the harlequin ladybird, Harmonia axyridis (Coleoptera, Coccinellidae), provide a particularly good opportunity for broad-scale use of such...
Between 2016 and 2022, the ladybird (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) fauna was surveyed on seven main islands of the Canary Islands archipelago. Adult specimens were collected and screened for thalli of Laboulbeniales (Ascomycota: Laboulbeniomycetes). Altogether, 9,807 ladybird specimens belonging to 39 species were screened, of which 103, representing 10 species, were infected by...