Chemical cues mediating aphid location by natural enemies

By Eduardo Hatano, G. Kunert, J. Michaud, W. Weisser. 2008

137 citations recorded by the source corpus.

There is increasing evidence that chemical cues play a pivotal role in host selection by the natural enemies of aphids. We use Vinson's (1976) division of the host selection process into habitat location, host location and host acceptance for both parasitoids and predators and review what is known about the role of semiochemicals in aphid selection by natural enemies. For habitat location (i.e. detection of the host plant), volatiles emitted by plants after aphid attack have been described for a number of plant-aphid inter- actions. These synomones indicate not only the presence of an aphid host plant to the predator or parasitoid, but also the presence of aphids. Volatiles emitted from undamaged host plants are often attractive to aphid parasitoids, but less so for predators. Host location by the natural enemy on the food plant is guided by semiochemicals that mostly originate from the aphids, in particular aphid alarm pheromone, honeydew, or the smell of the aphid itself. Host acceptance is guided by contact chemicals for both predators and parasi- toids. In parasitoids, host recognition may be based on visual cues or on contact chemicals on the aphid's cuticle, whereas host acceptance is ultimately based on as yet unknown substances within the aphid's hemolymph. While it appears that many predators and parasitoids are attracted to the same semiochemicals, synergistic and antagonistic interactions among chemical substances have only rarely been investigated. More research into model systems is needed, not only to identify important semiochemicals, but also to determine their range of attraction. Recent progress in the development of analytical techniques has created new opportunities to improve our understanding of the chemical ecology of aphid-natural enemy interactions in the coming years.

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

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/852ff93e012a3b69c1033d8d3595325c64775786

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. J. Harwood
2. K. Oliver
3. W. Powell
4. R. O’neil
5. T. Kring
6. J. Obrycki

In Insect Science

1. J. Harwood
2. K. Oliver
3. W. Powell
4. R. O’neil
5. T. Kring
6. J. Obrycki
7. Fabrice Teletchea

Citations in the corpus

• Aphidophagy by Coccinellidae: Application of biological control in agroecosystems (2009, background): “Several plant and pest volatiles influence the behaviors of adult and larval Coccinellidae (reviewed by Pickett and Glinwood, 2007; Hatano et al., 2008; Khan et al., 2008; Pettersson et al., 2008) and the effects of these semiochemicals provides the basis for understanding behaviors of…”
• Host selection behaviour of aphid parasitoids (Aphidiidae: Hymenoptera) (2010, background): “Attraction to odour of the host plants has been demonstrated in some species (Read et al., 1970; Singh and Sinha, 1982; Powell and Zhang, 1983; Powell et al., 1998; Rehman, 1999; Storeck et al., 2000; Hatano et al., 2008).”
• Defensive symbiosis in the real world – advancing ecological studies of heritable, protective bacteria in aphids and beyond (2014, background): “tion of symbiont-induced changes in internal or external contact cues used to assess host suitability (Boone et al. 2008; Hatano et al. 2008).”