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Alberto Fereres - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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effect of uv absorbing nets on the performance of the aphid predator sphaerophoria rueppellii diptera syrphidae
Insects, 2020Co-Authors: Rocco Amorosjimenez, Angeles M Marcosgarcia, Maria Plaza, Marta Montserrat, Alberto FereresAbstract:Photoselective nets have proven to be effective for aphid pest control as they limit their dispersal ability. However, little is known on the impact of such nets on natural enemies of aphids. In this work, we study the effect of UV-absorbing nets on the syrphid fly Sphaerophoria rueppellii Wiedemann (Diptera: Syrphidae), a commercially available aphid biocontrol agent in Mediterranean horticultural crops. First, we released mature syrphid adults and evaluated density and dispersal of the resulting immatures in a turnip crop grown under either UV-blocking (Bionet) or standard net. Second, we assessed, under controlled conditions, the impact of UV radiation on fitness-related parameters, and on flight behavior of S. rueppellii adults. Results showed that, while syprhid immature density was higher, their dispersion was reduced under Bionet. UV-absorbing nets are known to influence the dispersion pattern of aphids, which may have indirectly conditioned the distribution of their predator S. rueppellii. On the other hand, the type of net had no influence on the performance of adults. We conclude that the use of photoselective nets and the release of syrphid predators such S. rueppellii are compatible strategies to be used in IPM aphid-control programs.
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A Differential Role of Volatiles from Conspecific and Heterospecific Competitors in the Selection of Oviposition Sites by the Aphidophagous Hoverfly Sphaerophoria rueppellii
Journal of Chemical Ecology, 2015Co-Authors: Rocco Amorós-jiménez, Christelle A. M. Robert, M. Ángeles Marcos-garcía, Alberto Fereres, Ted C. J. TurlingsAbstract:The selection of oviposition sites by Syrphids and other aphidophagous insects is influenced by the presence of con- and heterospecific competitors. Chemical cues play a role in this selection process, some of them being volatile semiochemicals. Yet, little is known about the identity and specificity of chemical signals that are involved in the searching behavior of these predators. In this study, we used olfactometer bioassays to explore the olfactory responses of gravid females and larvae of the syrphid Sphaerophoria rueppellii , focussing on volatiles from conspecific immature stages, as well as odors from immature stages of the competing coccinellid Adalia bipunctata . In addition, a multiple-choice oviposition experiment was conducted to study if females respond differently when they can also sense their competitors through visual or tactile cues. Results showed that volatiles from plants and aphids did not affect the behavior of second-instars, whereas adult females strongly preferred odors from aphid colonies without competitors. Odors from conspecific immature stages had a repellent effect on S. rueppellii adult females, whereas their choices were not affected by volatiles coming from immature heterospecific A. bipunctata . The results imply that the syrphid uses odors to avoid sites that are already occupied by conspecifics. They did not avoid the odor of the heterospecific competitor, although in close vicinity they were found to avoid laying eggs on leaves that had traces of the coccinellid. Apparently adult Syrphids do not rely greatly on volatile semiochemicals to detect the coccinellid, but rather use other stimuli at close range (e. g., visual or non-volatile compounds) to avoid this competitor.
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feeding preferences of the aphidophagous hoverfly sphaerophoria rueppellii affect the performance of its offspring
Biocontrol, 2014Co-Authors: Rocco Amorosjimenez, Ana Pineda, Alberto Fereres, Angeles M MarcosgarciaAbstract:Provision of additional floral resources in the crop is a successful strategy of conservation biological control for attracting several natural enemies including predatory Syrphids. However, the selection of flower species is mainly based on visiting preferences, paying little attention to the link between preference and performance. In this study, we assess the influence of feeding on flowers of two insectary plants (sweet alyssum and coriander) and flowers of a crop species (sweet pepper) on performance of the parental and first generation of the syrphid Sphaerophoria rueppellii (Wiedemann) (Diptera: Syrphidae). We found that floral preference of the adults was linked to developmental performance of their offspring. Sweet alyssum was the flower most frequently visited by syrphid adults, enhancing adult body size and egg-to adult survival of the F1 generation.
Rocco Amorosjimenez - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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effect of uv absorbing nets on the performance of the aphid predator sphaerophoria rueppellii diptera syrphidae
Insects, 2020Co-Authors: Rocco Amorosjimenez, Angeles M Marcosgarcia, Maria Plaza, Marta Montserrat, Alberto FereresAbstract:Photoselective nets have proven to be effective for aphid pest control as they limit their dispersal ability. However, little is known on the impact of such nets on natural enemies of aphids. In this work, we study the effect of UV-absorbing nets on the syrphid fly Sphaerophoria rueppellii Wiedemann (Diptera: Syrphidae), a commercially available aphid biocontrol agent in Mediterranean horticultural crops. First, we released mature syrphid adults and evaluated density and dispersal of the resulting immatures in a turnip crop grown under either UV-blocking (Bionet) or standard net. Second, we assessed, under controlled conditions, the impact of UV radiation on fitness-related parameters, and on flight behavior of S. rueppellii adults. Results showed that, while syprhid immature density was higher, their dispersion was reduced under Bionet. UV-absorbing nets are known to influence the dispersion pattern of aphids, which may have indirectly conditioned the distribution of their predator S. rueppellii. On the other hand, the type of net had no influence on the performance of adults. We conclude that the use of photoselective nets and the release of syrphid predators such S. rueppellii are compatible strategies to be used in IPM aphid-control programs.
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feeding preferences of the aphidophagous hoverfly sphaerophoria rueppellii affect the performance of its offspring
Biocontrol, 2014Co-Authors: Rocco Amorosjimenez, Ana Pineda, Alberto Fereres, Angeles M MarcosgarciaAbstract:Provision of additional floral resources in the crop is a successful strategy of conservation biological control for attracting several natural enemies including predatory Syrphids. However, the selection of flower species is mainly based on visiting preferences, paying little attention to the link between preference and performance. In this study, we assess the influence of feeding on flowers of two insectary plants (sweet alyssum and coriander) and flowers of a crop species (sweet pepper) on performance of the parental and first generation of the syrphid Sphaerophoria rueppellii (Wiedemann) (Diptera: Syrphidae). We found that floral preference of the adults was linked to developmental performance of their offspring. Sweet alyssum was the flower most frequently visited by syrphid adults, enhancing adult body size and egg-to adult survival of the F1 generation.
Angeles M Marcosgarcia - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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effect of uv absorbing nets on the performance of the aphid predator sphaerophoria rueppellii diptera syrphidae
Insects, 2020Co-Authors: Rocco Amorosjimenez, Angeles M Marcosgarcia, Maria Plaza, Marta Montserrat, Alberto FereresAbstract:Photoselective nets have proven to be effective for aphid pest control as they limit their dispersal ability. However, little is known on the impact of such nets on natural enemies of aphids. In this work, we study the effect of UV-absorbing nets on the syrphid fly Sphaerophoria rueppellii Wiedemann (Diptera: Syrphidae), a commercially available aphid biocontrol agent in Mediterranean horticultural crops. First, we released mature syrphid adults and evaluated density and dispersal of the resulting immatures in a turnip crop grown under either UV-blocking (Bionet) or standard net. Second, we assessed, under controlled conditions, the impact of UV radiation on fitness-related parameters, and on flight behavior of S. rueppellii adults. Results showed that, while syprhid immature density was higher, their dispersion was reduced under Bionet. UV-absorbing nets are known to influence the dispersion pattern of aphids, which may have indirectly conditioned the distribution of their predator S. rueppellii. On the other hand, the type of net had no influence on the performance of adults. We conclude that the use of photoselective nets and the release of syrphid predators such S. rueppellii are compatible strategies to be used in IPM aphid-control programs.
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feeding preferences of the aphidophagous hoverfly sphaerophoria rueppellii affect the performance of its offspring
Biocontrol, 2014Co-Authors: Rocco Amorosjimenez, Ana Pineda, Alberto Fereres, Angeles M MarcosgarciaAbstract:Provision of additional floral resources in the crop is a successful strategy of conservation biological control for attracting several natural enemies including predatory Syrphids. However, the selection of flower species is mainly based on visiting preferences, paying little attention to the link between preference and performance. In this study, we assess the influence of feeding on flowers of two insectary plants (sweet alyssum and coriander) and flowers of a crop species (sweet pepper) on performance of the parental and first generation of the syrphid Sphaerophoria rueppellii (Wiedemann) (Diptera: Syrphidae). We found that floral preference of the adults was linked to developmental performance of their offspring. Sweet alyssum was the flower most frequently visited by syrphid adults, enhancing adult body size and egg-to adult survival of the F1 generation.
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the early stages and life histories of three eumerus and two merodon species diptera syrphidae from the mediterranean region
Entomologica Fennica, 2008Co-Authors: Antonio Ricarte, Angeles M Marcosgarcia, Graham E RotherayAbstract:This paper describes the early stages and life histories of the Syrphids Eumerus obliquus (Fabricius, 1805), E. pulchellus Loew, 1848, E. pusillus Loew, 1848, Merodon constans (Rossi, 1794) and M. luteihumerus Marcos-Garcia, Vujic & Mengual, 2007 (Diptera, Syrphidae) from Spain and Morocco. E. pulchellus, E. pusillus and M. luteihumerus were found inside bulbs of Urginea maritima (L.) Baker and E. pulchellus additionally in tubers of Asphodelus aestivus Brot. These data are some ofthe few obtained of natural plant relationships in these speciesrich genera. E. obliquus was found in fruits and platyclades of Opuntia maxima Mill., both insect and host plant are introductions. M. constans was found in commercially grown bulbs of Muscari comosum (L.) Mill. The Eumerus larvae studied here appear to more saprophagous than phytophagous but M. luteihumerus at least, seems to be a strict phytophage.
Andrew D Young - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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sampling syrphidae using malaise and nzi traps on akimiski island nunavut
The Journal of the Entomological Society of Ontario, 2019Co-Authors: Kathryn Anne Vezsenyi, Andrew D Young, Jeffrey H Skevington, Kevin Moran, Michelle M Locke, James A Schaefer, David V BeresfordAbstract:Flower flies (Diptera: Syrphidae) are a diverse group of pollinators found almost worldwide. Species surveys of these flies provide unique challenges as they can be difficult to collect due to different trapping biases. Here, we test the efficacy of the Nzi trap for use in the collection of Syrphids by comparing the richness and abundance of Syrphids caught in a Malaise trap and Nzi trap, July, 2012-2017 on Akimiski Island, Nunavut. We found that the Nzi trap caught many of the same species and in similar abundances as the Malaise trap, except for Platycheirus kelloggi (Snow), of which more were caught in the Nzi than the Malaise. The high capture rate of P. kelloggi using Nzi traps could be due to the flies’ unique shelter- or mate-seeking behaviours related to structure or colour. Using collections from 2008-2017, we also provide new territory records for 55 species and range extensions for 19 species. Two of these, Platycheirus kelloggi and Platycheirus latitarsis Vockeroth, had previously been reported only west of the Rocky Mountains.
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anchored enrichment dataset for true flies order diptera reveals insights into the phylogeny of flower flies family syrphidae
BMC Evolutionary Biology, 2016Co-Authors: Ximo Mengual, Gunilla Stahls, Andrew D Young, Jeffrey H Skevington, Alan R Lemmon, Menno Reemer, Kurt Jordaens, Scott KelsoAbstract:Anchored hybrid enrichment is a form of next-generation sequencing that uses oligonucleotide probes to target conserved regions of the genome flanked by less conserved regions in order to acquire data useful for phylogenetic inference from a broad range of taxa. Once a probe kit is developed, anchored hybrid enrichment is superior to traditional PCR-based Sanger sequencing in terms of both the amount of genomic data that can be recovered and effective cost. Due to their incredibly diverse nature, importance as pollinators, and historical instability with regard to subfamilial and tribal classification, Syrphidae (flower flies or hoverflies) are an ideal candidate for anchored hybrid enrichment-based phylogenetics, especially since recent molecular phylogenies of the Syrphids using only a few markers have resulted in highly unresolved topologies. Over 6200 Syrphids are currently known and uncovering their phylogeny will help us to understand how these species have diversified, providing insight into an array of ecological processes, from the development of adult mimicry, the origin of adult migration, to pollination patterns and the evolution of larval resource utilization. We present the first use of anchored hybrid enrichment in insect phylogenetics on a dataset containing 30 flower fly species from across all four subfamilies and 11 tribes out of 15. To produce a phylogenetic hypothesis, 559 loci were sampled to produce a final dataset containing 217,702 sites. We recovered a well resolved topology with bootstrap support values that were almost universally >95 %. The subfamily Eristalinae is recovered as paraphyletic, with the strongest support for this hypothesis to date. The ant predators in the Microdontinae are sister to all other Syrphids. Syrphinae and Pipizinae are monophyletic and sister to each other. Larval predation on soft-bodied hemipterans evolved only once in this family. Anchored hybrid enrichment was successful in producing a robustly supported phylogenetic hypothesis for the Syrphids. Subfamilial reconstruction is concordant with recent phylogenetic hypotheses, but with much higher support values. With the newly designed probe kit this analysis could be rapidly expanded with further sampling, opening the door to more comprehensive analyses targeting problem areas in syrphid phylogenetics and ecology.
Asma Akter - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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flower visitation by hoverflies diptera syrphidae in a temperate plant pollinator network
PeerJ, 2018Co-Authors: Jan Klecka, Jiři Hadrava, Paolo Biella, Asma AkterAbstract:Hoverflies (Diptera: Syrphidae) are among the most important pollinators, although they attract less attention than bees. They are usually thought to be rather opportunistic flower visitors, although previous studied demonstrated that they show colour preferences and their nectar feeding is affected by morphological constraints related to flower morphology. Despite the growing appreciation of hoverflies and other non-bee insects as pollinators, there is a lack of community-wide studies of flower visitation by Syrphids. The aim of this paper is to provide a detailed analysis of flower visitation patterns in a species rich community of Syrphids in a Central European grassland and to evaluate how species traits shape the structure of the plant-hoverfly flower visitation network. We found that different species varied in the level of specialisation, and while some species visited a similar spectre of flowers, others partitioned resources more strongly. There was a consistent difference in both specialisation and flower preferences between three syrphid subfamilies. Eristalinae and Pipizinae were more specialised than Syrphinae. Trait-based analyses showed that relative flower visitation (i) increased with plant height, but most strongly in Eristalinae; (ii) increased with inflorescence size in small species from all three subfamilies, but was independent of inflorescence size in large species of Eristalinae and Syrphinae; and (iii) depended on flower colour, but in a subfamily-specific way. Eristalinae showed the strongest flower colour preferences for white flowers, Pipizinae visited mostly white and yellow flowers, while Syrphinae were less affected by flower colour. Exploration of the structure of the plant-hoverfly flower visitation network showed that the network was both modular and nested. We also found that there were almost no differences in specialisation and relative visitation frequency between males and females. Overall, we showed that flower visitation in Syrphids was affected by phylogenetic relatedness, body size of Syrphids and several plant traits.
