The importance of natural enemies as the foundation of integrated pest management (IPM) is widely accepted, but few studies conduct the manipulative field experiments necessary to directly quantify their impact on p...The importance of natural enemies as the foundation of integrated pest management (IPM) is widely accepted, but few studies conduct the manipulative field experiments necessary to directly quantify their impact on pest populations in this context. This is particularly true for predators. Studying arthropod predator-prey interactions is inherently difficult: prey items are often completely consumed, individual predator-prey interactions are ephemeral (rendering their detection difficult) and the typically fluid or soft-bodied meals cannot be easily identified visually within predator guts. Serological techniques have long been used in arthropod predator gut-contents analysis, and current enzyme linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) are highly specific and sensitive. Recently, poly- merase chain reaction (PCR) methods for gut-contents analysis have developed rapidly and they now dominate the diagnostic methods used for gut-contents analysis in field-based research. This work has identified trophic linkages within food webs, determined predator diet breadth and preference, demonstrated the importance of cannibalism and intraguild predation within and between certain taxa, and confirmed the benefits (predator persis- tence) and potential disadvantages (reduced feeding on pest species) of the availability of alternative nonpest prey. Despite considerable efforts to calibrate gut-contents assays, these methods remain qualitative. Available techniques for predator gut-contents analysis can provide rapid, accurate, cost-effective identification of predation events. As such, they perfectly compliment the ecological methods developed to directly assess predator im- pacts on prey populations but which are imperfect at identifying the key predators. These diagnostic methods for gut-contents analysis are underexploited in agricultural research and they are almost never applied in unison with the critical field experiments to measure predator impact. This paper stresses the need for a combined approach 展开更多
Chlorantraniliprole was introduced into China from 2008 as a novel insecticide to control the rice stem borer, Chilo suppressalis (Walker). Cotesia chilonis (Matsumura) is the major parasitoid of C. suppressalis. ...Chlorantraniliprole was introduced into China from 2008 as a novel insecticide to control the rice stem borer, Chilo suppressalis (Walker). Cotesia chilonis (Matsumura) is the major parasitoid of C. suppressalis. We collected seven populations of C. suppressalis and two populations of C. chilonis in different locations in China in 2009 to investigate the lethal effects of chlorantraniliprole on them. The populations of C. suppressalis from different regions showed various LD50 values ranging from 2.00 to 18.70 ng per larva. Chlorantraniliprole has negligible acute contact toxicity (LC50500 mg L-1) to C. chilonis and its oral toxicity is also much lower than that of fipronil (2 800-fold difference in LC50). The results indicated that chlorantraniliprole is a good alterative in rice integrated pest management (IPM) programs. The susceptibility data of C. suppressalis will be useful for monitoring resistance levels in future.展开更多
Areawide management has a long history of achieving solutions that target pests; however, there has been little focus on the areawide management of arthropod natural enemies. Landscape ecology studies that show a posi...Areawide management has a long history of achieving solutions that target pests; however, there has been little focus on the areawide management of arthropod natural enemies. Landscape ecology studies that show a positive relationship between natural enemy abundance and habitat diversity demonstrate landscape-dependent pest suppression, but have not yet clearly linked their findings to pest management or to the suite of pests associated with crops that require control. Instead the focus has often been on model systems of single pest species and their natural enemies. We suggest that management actions to capture pest control from natural enemies may be forth coming if: (i) the suite of response and predictor variables focus on pest complexes and specific management actions; (ii) the contribution of"the landscape" is identified by assessing the timing and numbers of natural enemies immigrating and emigrating to and from the target crop, as well as pests; and (iii) pest control thresholds aligned with crop development stages are the benchmark to measure impact of natural enemies on pests, in turn allowing for comparison between study regions, and generalizations. To achieve pest control we will need to incorporate what has been learned from an ecological understanding of model pest and natural enemy systems and integrate areawide landscape management with in-field pest management.展开更多
文摘The importance of natural enemies as the foundation of integrated pest management (IPM) is widely accepted, but few studies conduct the manipulative field experiments necessary to directly quantify their impact on pest populations in this context. This is particularly true for predators. Studying arthropod predator-prey interactions is inherently difficult: prey items are often completely consumed, individual predator-prey interactions are ephemeral (rendering their detection difficult) and the typically fluid or soft-bodied meals cannot be easily identified visually within predator guts. Serological techniques have long been used in arthropod predator gut-contents analysis, and current enzyme linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) are highly specific and sensitive. Recently, poly- merase chain reaction (PCR) methods for gut-contents analysis have developed rapidly and they now dominate the diagnostic methods used for gut-contents analysis in field-based research. This work has identified trophic linkages within food webs, determined predator diet breadth and preference, demonstrated the importance of cannibalism and intraguild predation within and between certain taxa, and confirmed the benefits (predator persis- tence) and potential disadvantages (reduced feeding on pest species) of the availability of alternative nonpest prey. Despite considerable efforts to calibrate gut-contents assays, these methods remain qualitative. Available techniques for predator gut-contents analysis can provide rapid, accurate, cost-effective identification of predation events. As such, they perfectly compliment the ecological methods developed to directly assess predator im- pacts on prey populations but which are imperfect at identifying the key predators. These diagnostic methods for gut-contents analysis are underexploited in agricultural research and they are almost never applied in unison with the critical field experiments to measure predator impact. This paper stresses the need for a combined approach
基金supports from the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program, 2007CB109202)the Special Agricultural Research Projects for Public Welfare, China (200803004)
文摘Chlorantraniliprole was introduced into China from 2008 as a novel insecticide to control the rice stem borer, Chilo suppressalis (Walker). Cotesia chilonis (Matsumura) is the major parasitoid of C. suppressalis. We collected seven populations of C. suppressalis and two populations of C. chilonis in different locations in China in 2009 to investigate the lethal effects of chlorantraniliprole on them. The populations of C. suppressalis from different regions showed various LD50 values ranging from 2.00 to 18.70 ng per larva. Chlorantraniliprole has negligible acute contact toxicity (LC50500 mg L-1) to C. chilonis and its oral toxicity is also much lower than that of fipronil (2 800-fold difference in LC50). The results indicated that chlorantraniliprole is a good alterative in rice integrated pest management (IPM) programs. The susceptibility data of C. suppressalis will be useful for monitoring resistance levels in future.
文摘Areawide management has a long history of achieving solutions that target pests; however, there has been little focus on the areawide management of arthropod natural enemies. Landscape ecology studies that show a positive relationship between natural enemy abundance and habitat diversity demonstrate landscape-dependent pest suppression, but have not yet clearly linked their findings to pest management or to the suite of pests associated with crops that require control. Instead the focus has often been on model systems of single pest species and their natural enemies. We suggest that management actions to capture pest control from natural enemies may be forth coming if: (i) the suite of response and predictor variables focus on pest complexes and specific management actions; (ii) the contribution of"the landscape" is identified by assessing the timing and numbers of natural enemies immigrating and emigrating to and from the target crop, as well as pests; and (iii) pest control thresholds aligned with crop development stages are the benchmark to measure impact of natural enemies on pests, in turn allowing for comparison between study regions, and generalizations. To achieve pest control we will need to incorporate what has been learned from an ecological understanding of model pest and natural enemy systems and integrate areawide landscape management with in-field pest management.