Mediation of herbivore-natural enemy interactions by Neotyphodium endophytes: the role of insect behavioural response
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33584/rps.13.2006.3150Abstract
This study examined how differences in the behavioural response of two sod webworm species to Neotyphodium endophytes mediated their susceptibility to an entomopathogenic nematode. In choice and non-choice assays, Parapediasia teterrella (Zincken) clearly preferred endophyte-free tall fescue over endophyte infected tall fescue whereas Fissicrambus mutabilis (Clemens) displayed no clear preference for either. P. teterrella spent more time searching for suitable host material than F. mutabilis and committed to the first host encountered only 37% of the time whereas F. mutabilis did so 90% of the time. Increased foraging times associated with P. teterrella host selection translated into greater rates of infection by the nematode Steinernema carpocapsae (Wieser). Results demonstrate the potential importance of insect behavioural response to fungal endophytes in determining herbivore vulnerability to natural enemies and support the more general idea that the form of insect response to plant defenses may, in part, predict the outcome of insect-natural enemy interactions. Keywords: tall fescue, sod webworm, entomopathogenic nematode, trophic interactions
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Rights granted to the New Zealand Grassland Association through this agreement are non-exclusive. You are free to publish the work(s) elsewhere and no ownership is assumed by the NZGA when storing or curating an electronic version of the work(s). The author(s) will receive no monetary return from the Association for the use of material contained in the manuscript. If I am one of several co-authors, I hereby confirm that I am authorized by my co-authors to grant this Licence as their agent on their behalf. For the avoidance of doubt, this includes the rights to supply the article in electronic and online forms and systems.
