{"title":"Drought aggravates plant stress by favouring aphids and weakening indirect defense in a sugar beet tritrophic system","authors":"Shahinoor Rahman, Michael Rostás, Ilka Vosteen","doi":"10.1007/s10340-024-01799-6","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>Climate change leads to more frequent droughts that may alter multitrophic networks in agroecosystems by changing bottom-up and top-down effects on herbivorous insects. Yet, how bottom-up effects of drought alter tritrophic interactions remains poorly understood. This study investigated two intensities of drought stress in the tritrophic system consisting of sugar beet (<i>Beta vulgaris</i>), an aphid (<i>Aphis fabae</i>), and its parasitoid (<i>Aphidius colemani</i>). We thoroughly investigated each trophic level, examining the performance of plants, pest insects, and parasitoids, as well as the attraction of parasitoids to herbivore-induced plant volatiles (HIPVs). Drought stress negatively affected plant growth but benefited <i>A. fabae,</i> leading to faster development and a higher reproduction rate. Drought-stressed plants also emitted less plant volatiles, which resulted in reduced attraction of <i>A. colemani</i> to aphid-infested plants. Drought indirectly affected parasitoid performance, as evidenced by lower emergence rates and production of fewer females, although mummification rates were higher on drought-stressed plants. Reduced parasitoid attraction and performance on drought-stressed plants may exert lower top-down pressure on aphid populations. Combined with increased aphid performance, this may facilitate aphid outbreaks, which could further weaken drought-stressed plants. Our findings highlight the need to study multiple trophic levels and emphasize the importance of incorporating HIPVs and parasitoid attraction when assessing combined abiotic and biotic stresses in crops.</p>","PeriodicalId":16736,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Pest Science","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.3000,"publicationDate":"2024-06-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Pest Science","FirstCategoryId":"97","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10340-024-01799-6","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ENTOMOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Climate change leads to more frequent droughts that may alter multitrophic networks in agroecosystems by changing bottom-up and top-down effects on herbivorous insects. Yet, how bottom-up effects of drought alter tritrophic interactions remains poorly understood. This study investigated two intensities of drought stress in the tritrophic system consisting of sugar beet (Beta vulgaris), an aphid (Aphis fabae), and its parasitoid (Aphidius colemani). We thoroughly investigated each trophic level, examining the performance of plants, pest insects, and parasitoids, as well as the attraction of parasitoids to herbivore-induced plant volatiles (HIPVs). Drought stress negatively affected plant growth but benefited A. fabae, leading to faster development and a higher reproduction rate. Drought-stressed plants also emitted less plant volatiles, which resulted in reduced attraction of A. colemani to aphid-infested plants. Drought indirectly affected parasitoid performance, as evidenced by lower emergence rates and production of fewer females, although mummification rates were higher on drought-stressed plants. Reduced parasitoid attraction and performance on drought-stressed plants may exert lower top-down pressure on aphid populations. Combined with increased aphid performance, this may facilitate aphid outbreaks, which could further weaken drought-stressed plants. Our findings highlight the need to study multiple trophic levels and emphasize the importance of incorporating HIPVs and parasitoid attraction when assessing combined abiotic and biotic stresses in crops.
期刊介绍:
Journal of Pest Science publishes high-quality papers on all aspects of pest science in agriculture, horticulture (including viticulture), forestry, urban pests, and stored products research, including health and safety issues.
Journal of Pest Science reports on advances in control of pests and animal vectors of diseases, the biology, ethology and ecology of pests and their antagonists, and the use of other beneficial organisms in pest control. The journal covers all noxious or damaging groups of animals, including arthropods, nematodes, molluscs, and vertebrates.
Journal of Pest Science devotes special attention to emerging and innovative pest control strategies, including the side effects of such approaches on non-target organisms, for example natural enemies and pollinators, and the implementation of these strategies in integrated pest management.
Journal of Pest Science also publishes papers on the management of agro- and forest ecosystems where this is relevant to pest control. Papers on important methodological developments relevant for pest control will be considered as well.