The quality of aphids as food for generalist predators: implications for natural control of aphids

By S. Toft. 2005

100 citations recorded by the source corpus.

The paper reviews existing data on the food quality of cereal aphids for generalist predators. Data are presented for spiders, harvestmen, carabid and staphylinid beetles, cockroaches, ants and one species of bird. All results agree that cereal aphids are low-quality food compared to alternative prey types (in most studies fruit flies). This is associated both with a low consumption capacity for aphids and a low utilization efficiency of the aphid food. A pure aphid diet allows full juvenile development in only a few species. Aphids as part of mixed diets can have negative, neutral or positive effects, which depends on the quality of the remaining diet. The low consumption capacity for aphids is due to the development of a specific feeding aversion. Genetic variation in the ability to tolerate aphids has been documented, indicating that predators may be able to adapt to a higher proportion of aphids in the diet in areas where outbreaks are frequent. A consequence of these findings is that predator populations rely on alternative prey (e.g. Collembola and Diptera) for maintenance and reproduction, and are probably unable to benefit nutritionally from an aphid outbreak. The low food quality of aphids to generalist predators explains why generalist and specialist predators have widely different roles in aphid biocontrol, but does not rule out that under some conditions the generalists may be able to inhibit aphid population growth sufficiently to prevent an outbreak, as field experiments have indicated. Simulation modelling shows that a low consumption capacity for aphids has little influence on the ability to prevent aphid population increase at low aphid immigration rates, but a great influence at high aphid immigration rates. Modelling also indicates that there may be an optimal availability of high-quality alternative prey that maximizes the impact of generalist predators on aphid population growth.

Subfields: Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, Insect Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/2563db5f9921a7bce377a4a1ffb4ffd4f182ed12

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

1. David H. Wise
2. Klaus Birkhofer
3. S. Scheu
4. N. Eisenhauer
5. M. Mclean
6. Dennis Parkinson
7. Sonja Migge-Kleian

In Insect Science

1. David H. Wise
2. Klaus Birkhofer
3. S. Scheu

Citations in the corpus

• Subsidy from the detrital food web, but not microhabitat complexity, affects the role of generalist predators in an aboveground herbivore food web (2008, background): “Generalist predators may preferentially feed on detritivore prey if the herbivore prey is toxic or unpalatable (Toft 2005) or if the search or handling time differs between prey types (Brown and Morgan 1995).”