Assessing the sub-lethal impacts of insecticides on aphid parasitoids through laboratory-based studies

Aphids are a major pest of cropping systems throughout the world. In most cases, crop aphids are controlled with broad-spectrum insecticides; although generally very effective at preventing yield loss, this approach risks non-target damage to beneficial organisms. In the last 20 years, a number of selective insecticides have become available to control aphids while minimising harm to other arthropods. Previous studies have found that two such insecticides, flonicamid and afidopyropen, cause only low-level acute mortality impacts on aphid parasitoids in Australian grain crops. However, little research has examined the sub-lethal effects of these chemicals, which could induce various physiological changes that impact pest control. We hypothesised that both flonicamid and afidopyropen have negative effects that extend beyond the immediate acute mortality previously published. To test this hypothesis, we undertook a series of experiments to determine the effects of flonicamid and afidopyropen, along with the synthetic pyrethroid gamma-cyhalothrin, on aphid parasitism (mummification) rate, emergence rate of the next generation and the next generation sex ratio in three important aphid parasitoids, Aphidius colemani (Viereck), Diaeretiella rapae (M'Intosh) and Aphelinus abdominalis (Dalman). Analogous with previous research, our acute toxicity bioassays showed that all three insecticides had low (<30%) mortality impacts. Although sub-lethal impacts could not be assessed for D. rapae due to the low level of aphid parasitism by that species, our findings showed negative impacts on fecundity in surviving A. abdominalis and A. colemani. Of particular note is the increase in International Organisation for Biological Control ratings to moderate (30%–80% mortality and/or reproductive reduction) when mortality and reduced fecundity effects were combined to determine overall fitness impacts. Gamma-cyhalothrin typically resulted in higher negative impacts on A. abdominalis and A. colemani (compared with flonicamid and afidopyropen); however, quite surprisingly, these impacts were not rated as highly toxic. Taken together, our results suggest that, even when sub-lethal impacts are considered, flonicamid and afidopyropen are useful tools for farmers targeting aphid populations while minimising the non-target impacts on parasitoids. We recommend semi-field and/or field trials to further assess the impacts of these insecticides on aphid parasitoid populations.