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Jin J, Zhao M, Zhou Z, Wang R, Guo J, Wan F. Host-Plant Selection Behavior of Ophraella communa, a Biocontrol Agent of the Invasive Common Ragweed Ambrosia artemisiifolia. INSECTS 2023; 14:334. [PMID: 37103149 PMCID: PMC10146365 DOI: 10.3390/insects14040334] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/17/2022] [Revised: 03/27/2023] [Accepted: 03/27/2023] [Indexed: 06/19/2023]
Abstract
Understanding the host-selection behavior of herbivorous insects is important to clarify their efficacy and safety as biocontrol agents. To explore the host-plant selection of the beetle Ophraella communa, a natural enemy of the alien invasive common ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia), we conducted a series of outdoor choice experiments in cages in 2010 and in open fields in 2010 and 2011 to determine the preference of O. communa for A. artemisiifolia and three non-target plant species: sunflower (Helianthus annuus), cocklebur (Xanthium sibiricum), and giant ragweed (Ambrosia trifida). In the outdoor cage experiment, no eggs were found on sunflowers, and O. communa adults rapidly moved from sunflowers to the other three plant species. Instead, adults preferred to lay eggs on A. artemisiifolia, followed by X. sibiricum and A. trifida, although very few eggs were observed on A. trifida. Observing the host-plant selection of O. communa in an open sunflower field, we found that O. communa adults always chose A. artemisiifolia for feeding and egg laying. Although several adults (<0.02 adults/plant) stayed on H. annuus, no feeding or oviposition were observed, and adults quickly transferred to A. artemisiifolia. In 2010 and 2011, 3 egg masses (96 eggs) were observed on sunflowers, but they failed to hatch or develop into adults. In addition, some O. communa adults crossed the barrier formed by H. annuus to feed and oviposit on A. artemisiifolia planted in the periphery, and persisted in patches of different densities. Additionally, only 10% of O. communa adults chose to feed and oviposit on the X. sibiricum barrier. These findings suggest that O. communa poses no threat to the biosafety of H. anunuus and A. trifida and exhibits a robust dispersal capacity to find and feed on A. artemisiifolia. However, X. sibiricum has the potential to be an alternative host plant for O. communa.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jisu Jin
- State Key Laboratory for Biology of Plant Diseases and Insect Pests, Institute of Plant Protection, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China; (J.J.)
| | - Meiting Zhao
- State Key Laboratory for Biology of Plant Diseases and Insect Pests, Institute of Plant Protection, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China; (J.J.)
- School of Marxism, Ludong University, Yantai 264025, China
| | - Zhongshi Zhou
- State Key Laboratory for Biology of Plant Diseases and Insect Pests, Institute of Plant Protection, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China; (J.J.)
| | - Ren Wang
- State Key Laboratory for Biology of Plant Diseases and Insect Pests, Institute of Plant Protection, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China; (J.J.)
| | - Jianying Guo
- State Key Laboratory for Biology of Plant Diseases and Insect Pests, Institute of Plant Protection, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China; (J.J.)
| | - Fanghao Wan
- State Key Laboratory for Biology of Plant Diseases and Insect Pests, Institute of Plant Protection, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China; (J.J.)
- Agricultural Genomics Institute at Shenzhen, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shenzhen 518120, China
- College of Plant Health and Medicine, Qingdao Agricultural University, Qingdao 266109, China
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González-González A, Yañez O, Ballesteros GI, Palma-Millanao R, Figueroa CC, Niemeyer HM, Ramírez CC. A mutation increases the specificity to plant compounds in an insect chemosensory protein. J Mol Graph Model 2022; 114:108191. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jmgm.2022.108191] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/06/2021] [Revised: 04/07/2022] [Accepted: 04/08/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
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The foraging Gene Is Involved in the Presence of Wings and Explorative Behaviours in Parthenogenetic Females of the Aphid Myzus persicae. Life (Basel) 2022; 12:life12030369. [PMID: 35330120 PMCID: PMC8951518 DOI: 10.3390/life12030369] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2022] [Revised: 02/24/2022] [Accepted: 03/02/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
The foraging gene (for) encodes for a cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP)-dependent protein kinase involved in behavioural plasticity in aphids and in other insects. In this paper, we analysed the complete for sequence in eight clones of the peach potato aphid Myzus persicae, reporting the presence of nonsense and frameshift mutations in three studied clones characterized by a reduced number of winged females and by the absence of exploratory behaviours. Quantitative PCR experiments evidenced similar results in clones possessing for genes with a conserved coding sequence, but low expression levels. The comparison of the for transcriptional level in Myzus persicae persicae and Myzus persicae nicotianae showed very different expression in the two studied M. p. nicotianae clones so that our data did not support a previous hypothesis suggesting that a differential for expression was related to ecological specialization of M. p. nicotianae. In view of its role in both the dispersal of winged females and exploratory behaviours, the screening of the for sequences could be useful for predicting invasions of cultivated areas by peach potato aphids.
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Sudta C, Salcido DM, Forister ML, Walla TR, Villamarín-Cortez S, Dyer LA. Jack-of-all-trades paradigm meets long-term data: Generalist herbivores are more widespread and locally less abundant. Ecol Lett 2022; 25:948-957. [PMID: 35106892 DOI: 10.1111/ele.13972] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/25/2021] [Revised: 12/11/2021] [Accepted: 01/03/2022] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Insect herbivores are relatively specialized. Why this is so is not clear. We examine assumptions about associations between local abundance and dietary specialization using an 18-year data set of caterpillar-plant interactions in Ecuador. Our data consist of caterpillar-plant associations and include standardized plot-based samples and general collections of caterpillars, allowing for diet breadth and abundance estimates across spatial scales for 1917 morphospecies. We find that more specialized caterpillars are locally more abundant than generalists, consistent with a key component of the 'jack of all trades, master of none' hypothesis. As the diet breadth of species increased, generalists were not as abundant in any one location, but they had broader occupancy across the landscape, which is a pattern that could reflect high plant beta diversity and is consistent with an alternative neutral hypothesis. Our finding that more specialized species can be both rare and common highlights the ecological complexity of specialization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chanchanok Sudta
- Department of Biology, Program in Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology, University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada, USA
| | - Danielle M Salcido
- Department of Biology, Program in Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology, University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada, USA
| | - Matthew L Forister
- Department of Biology, Program in Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology, University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada, USA
| | - Thomas R Walla
- Department of Biological Science, Colorado Mesa University, Grand Junction, Colorado, USA
| | - Santiago Villamarín-Cortez
- Department of Biology, Program in Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology, University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada, USA.,Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad - INABIO, Quito, Ecuador
| | - Lee A Dyer
- Department of Biology, Program in Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology, University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada, USA.,Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad - INABIO, Quito, Ecuador
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Gilad T, Dorfman A, Subach A, Libbrecht R, Foitzik S, Scharf I. Evidence for the effect of brief exposure to food, but not learning interference, on maze solving in desert ants. Integr Zool 2021; 17:704-714. [PMID: 34958517 DOI: 10.1111/1749-4877.12622] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Theories of forgetting highlight two active mechanisms through which animals forget prior knowledge by reciprocal disruption of memories. According to "proactive interference", information learned previously interferes with the acquisition of new information, whereas "retroactive interference" suggests that newly gathered information interferes with already existing information. Our goal was to examine the possible effect of both mechanisms in the desert ant Cataglyphis niger, which does not use pheromone recruitment, when learning spatial information while searching for food in a maze. Our experiment indicated that neither proactive nor retroactive interference took place in this system although this awaits confirmation with individual-level learning assays. Rather, the ants' persistence or readiness to search for food grew with successive runs in the maze. Elevated persistence led to more ant workers arriving at the food when retested a day later, even if the maze was shifted between runs. We support this finding in a second experiment, where ant workers reached the food reward at the maze end in higher numbers after encountering food in the maze entry compared to a treatment, in which food was present only at the maze end. This result suggests that spatial learning and search persistence are two parallel behavioral mechanisms, both assisting foraging ants. We suggest that their relative contribution should depend on habitat complexity. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tomer Gilad
- School of Zoology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Arik Dorfman
- School of Zoology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Aziz Subach
- School of Zoology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Romain Libbrecht
- Institute of Organismic and Molecular Evolution, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany
| | - Susanne Foitzik
- Institute of Organismic and Molecular Evolution, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany
| | - Inon Scharf
- School of Zoology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
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Cabrera-Brandt MA, Kati A, Rubio-Meléndez ME, Figueroa CC, Fuentes-Contreras E. Changes in the genetic composition of Myzus persicae nicotianae populations in Chile and frequency of insecticide resistance mutations. BULLETIN OF ENTOMOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2021; 111:1-9. [PMID: 34617507 DOI: 10.1017/s0007485321000912] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Myzus persicae is a cosmopolitan aphid that is highly polyphagous and an important agricultural pest. The subspecies M. persicae nicotianae has been described for highly specialized phenotypes adapted to tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum). In Chile, the population of M. persicae nicotianae was originally composed of a single red genotype that did not possess insecticide resistance mutations. However, in the last decade, variation in the colour of tobacco aphids has been observed in the field. To determine whether this variation stems from the presence of new genotypes, sampling was carried out across the entire distribution of tobacco cultivation regions in Chile. The aphids collected were genotyped, and the frequency of kdr (L1014F), super-kdr (M918T), modification of acetylcholinesterase (MACE) and nicotinic acetylcholine receptor β subunit (nAChRβ) mutations associated with insecticide resistance was determined. A total of 16 new genotypes of M. persicae nicotianae were detected in Chile: four of them possessed the MACE mutation, and none of them possessed the kdr, super-kdr or nAChRβ mutation. The previously described red genotype was not detected in any of the sampled fields over two seasons. These results raise questions about the mechanisms underlying changes in the genetic structure of M. persicae nicotianae populations in Chile. Future research aimed at addressing these questions could provide new insight into aphid evolution and agricultural practices.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marco A Cabrera-Brandt
- Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias, Centre for Molecular and Functional Ecology in Agroecosystems, Universidad de Talca, Casilla 747, Talca, Chile
| | - Amalia Kati
- Plant Pathology Laboratory, School of Agriculture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece
| | - María E Rubio-Meléndez
- Facultad de Ingeniería, Centre for Bioinformatics and Molecular Simulation, Universidad de Talca, Casilla 747, Talca, Chile
| | - Christian C Figueroa
- Centre for Molecular and Functional Ecology in Agroecosystems, Instituto de Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad de Talca, Casilla 747, Talca, Chile
| | - Eduardo Fuentes-Contreras
- Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias, Centre for Molecular and Functional Ecology in Agroecosystems, Universidad de Talca, Casilla 747, Talca, Chile
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Silva R, Clarke AR. The "sequential cues hypothesis": a conceptual model to explain host location and ranking by polyphagous herbivores. INSECT SCIENCE 2020; 27:1136-1147. [PMID: 31448531 DOI: 10.1111/1744-7917.12719] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/10/2019] [Revised: 07/29/2019] [Accepted: 08/19/2019] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Successfully locating a host plant is crucial for an insect herbivore to feed and/or oviposit. However, locating a host within a complex environment that may contain an array of different plant species is a difficult task. This is particularly the case for polyphagous herbivores, which must locate a host within environments that may simultaneously contain multiple suitable and unsuitable hosts. Here we review the mechanisms of host selection used by polyphagous herbivores, as well as exploring how prior experience may modify a generalist's response to host cues. We show that recent research demonstrates that polyphagous herbivores have the capacity to detect both common cues from multiple host species, as well as specific cues from individual host species. This creates a paradox in that generalists invariably rank hosts when given a choice, a finding at odds with the "neural limitations" hypothesis that says generalist insect herbivores should not have the neural capacity to identify cues specific to every possible host. To explain this paradox we propose a model, akin to parasitoid host location, that postulates that generalist herbivores use different cues sequentially in host location. We propose that initially common host cues, associated with all potential hosts, are used to place the herbivore within the host habitat and that, in the absence of any other host cues, these cues are sufficient in themselves to lead to host location. As such they are true "generalist" cues. However, once within the host habitat, we propose that the presence of a smaller group of cues may lead to further host searching and the location of preferred hosts: these are "specialist" cues. This model explains the current conflict in the literature where generalists can respond to both common and specific host-plant cues, while also exhibiting specialist and generalist host use behavior under different conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rehan Silva
- School of Earth, Environmental and Biological Sciences, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
| | - Anthony R Clarke
- School of Earth, Environmental and Biological Sciences, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
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8
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Saar M, Hershkovitz D, Amano O, Bega D, Subach A, Scharf I. The effect of food preference, landmarks, and maze shift on maze-solving time in desert ants. BEHAVIOUR 2020. [DOI: 10.1163/1568539x-bja10016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
We studied how food type and available landmarks affect spatial learning in the ant Cataglyphis niger while searching for food in a maze. We expected the ants to solve the maze faster with consecutive runs, when the preferred food type is offered, and in the presence of landmarks. Ants should also solve the maze more slowly following a mirror-route switch in the maze. As expected, maze-solving improved when searching for a preferred food type than a less preferred one, as determined in a separate food preference experiment. In contrast, adding landmarks to the maze had only little effect on maze-solving and the number of searching workers. Switching the route to a mirror-imaged route in the maze delayed maze-solving and required more workers to search for food. Our findings extend the knowledge on the ants’ learning abilities and demonstrate how foragers detect food faster when offered a high-ranking food item.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maya Saar
- School of Zoology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, 69978 Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Dar Hershkovitz
- School of Zoology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, 69978 Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Orin Amano
- School of Zoology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, 69978 Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Darar Bega
- School of Zoology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, 69978 Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Aziz Subach
- School of Zoology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, 69978 Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Inon Scharf
- School of Zoology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, 69978 Tel Aviv, Israel
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Xie R, Wu B, Dou H, Liu C, Knox GW, Qin H, Gu M. Feeding Preference of Crapemyrtle Bark Scale ( Acanthococcus lagerstroemiae) on Different Species. INSECTS 2020; 11:E399. [PMID: 32605244 PMCID: PMC7412028 DOI: 10.3390/insects11070399] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/02/2020] [Revised: 06/23/2020] [Accepted: 06/25/2020] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Crapemyrtle bark scale (CMBS; Acanthococcus lagerstroemiae) is an exotic pest species that causes aesthetic and economic damage to crapemyrtles and poses potential threats to other horticultural crops in the United States. Although previous studies reported the infestation of CMBS on several alternative hosts across multiple families in Asia, its potential threats to other documented alternative hosts remain elusive and yet to be confirmed. In this study, feeding preference studies of CMBS were conducted on forty-nine plant species and cultivars in 2016 and 2019, in order to gain insight into the expansion of CMBS distribution in the United States, as well as other regions of the world. The infestations of CMBS were confirmed on apple (Malus domestica), Chaenomeles speciosa, Disopyros rhombifolia, Heimia salicifolia, Lagerstroemia 'Spiced Plum', M. angustifolia, and twelve out of thirty-five pomegranate cultivars. However, the levels of CMBS infestation on these test plant hosts in this study is very low compared to Lagerstroemia, and may not cause significant damage. No sign of CMBS infestation was observed on Rubus 'Arapaho', R. 'Navaho', R. idaeus 'Dorman Red', R. fruticosus, B. microphylla var. koreana × B. sempervirens, B. harlandii, or D. virginiana.
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Affiliation(s)
- Runshi Xie
- Department of Horticultural Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA; (R.X.); (B.W.); (H.D.)
| | - Bin Wu
- Department of Horticultural Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA; (R.X.); (B.W.); (H.D.)
| | - Haijie Dou
- Department of Horticultural Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA; (R.X.); (B.W.); (H.D.)
- Department of Science & Technology Development, Beijing Industrial Technology Research Institute, No.5, Xingguang 4th Ave, Tongzhou District, Beijing 101111, China
| | - Cuiyu Liu
- College of Forestry, Nanjing Forestry University, 159 Longpan Rd., Nanjing 210037, China;
| | - Gary W. Knox
- Department of Environmental Horticulture, University of Florida/IFAS North Florida Research and Education Center, Quincy, FL 32351, USA;
| | - Hongmin Qin
- Department of Biology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77840, USA
| | - Mengmeng Gu
- Department of Horticultural Sciences, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, College Station, TX 77843, USA
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van den Bosch K, van Noort S, Cron GV. Predation of fruit and seed of Aloe pretoriensis
- A little known effect on reproductive output in aloes. AUSTRAL ECOL 2019. [DOI: 10.1111/aec.12705] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Kaylee van den Bosch
- School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences; University of the Witwatersrand; Johannesburg Private Bag 3 WITS 2050 South Africa
| | - Simon van Noort
- Research and Exhibitions Department; South African Museum; Iziko Museums of South Africa; Cape Town South Africa
- Department of Biological Sciences; University of Cape Town; Rondebosch South Africa
| | - Glynis V. Cron
- School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences; University of the Witwatersrand; Johannesburg Private Bag 3 WITS 2050 South Africa
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Learning in herbivorous insects: dispersing aphids spend less time evaluating familiar than novel non-host plant species. Oecologia 2018; 188:1049-1057. [PMID: 30374675 DOI: 10.1007/s00442-018-4293-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/07/2018] [Accepted: 10/23/2018] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
Abstract
For many organisms, dispersal may be a high-risk activity, and dispersers are likely to have behavioral, physiological, or other adaptations that increase the probability they will successfully settle in new habitat. Dispersing aphids, for example, are small-bodied, relatively weak flyers that must navigate through a complex landscape where non-host species may be much more common than suitable hosts are. While previous research has focused on how dispersing aphids locate and evaluate host species, little is known about how they interact with the non-host species they encounter while host searching. Here, I report on an experiment to test the hypothesis that dispersers of Aphis fabae spend less time evaluating non-host species with which they have had prior experience than novel non-host species. Aphids consistently spent less time in contact with familiar non-host species than novel non-host species, but the magnitude of this effect varied for different non-host species. Aphids that had previously encountered rose spent less time interacting with rose than with raspberry or goldenrod, and aphids that had previously encountered raspberry spent less time interacting with raspberry than with goldenrod. Aphids that had previously encountered goldenrod showed a less pronounced and statistically non-significant reduction in time spent interacting with goldenrod relative to either raspberry or rose. The ability to recognize previously encountered non-hosts may allow aphids to navigate more efficiently through an environment in which they face many more non-hosts than hosts, and therefore increase the probability that a disperser will ultimately locate and settle on an appropriate host plant.
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Del Giudice M, Crespi BJ. Basic functional trade-offs in cognition: An integrative framework. Cognition 2018; 179:56-70. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2018.06.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/08/2018] [Revised: 06/05/2018] [Accepted: 06/11/2018] [Indexed: 01/23/2023]
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13
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Saar M, Gilad T, Kilon-Kallner T, Rosenfeld A, Subach A, Scharf I. The interplay between maze complexity, colony size, learning and memory in ants while solving a maze: A test at the colony level. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0183753. [PMID: 28837675 PMCID: PMC5570381 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0183753] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/18/2017] [Accepted: 08/10/2017] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Central-place foragers need to explore their immediate habitat in order to reach food. We let colonies of the individually foraging desert ant Cataglyphis niger search for a food reward in a maze. We did so for three tests per day over two successive days and an additional test after a time interval of 4-20 days (seven tests in total). We examined whether the colonies reached the food reward faster, consumed more food and changed the number of workers searching over time, within and between days. Colonies' food-discovery time shortened within and between days, indicating that some workers learnt and became more efficient in moving through the maze. Such workers, however, also forgot and deteriorated in their food-discovery time, leveling off back to initial performance after about two weeks. We used mazes of increasing complexity levels, differing in the potential number of wrong turns. The number of workers searching increased with colony size. Food-discovery time also increased with colony size in complex mazes but not in simple ones, perhaps due to the more frequent interactions among workers in large colonies having to move through narrow routes. Finally, the motivation to solve the maze was probably not only the food reward, because food consumption did not change over time.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maya Saar
- School of Zoology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Tomer Gilad
- School of Zoology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Tal Kilon-Kallner
- School of Zoology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Adar Rosenfeld
- School of Zoology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Aziz Subach
- School of Zoology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Inon Scharf
- School of Zoology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
- * E-mail:
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Vergara-Amado J, Silva AX, Manzi C, Nespolo RF, Cárdenas L. Differential expression of stress candidate genes for thermal tolerance in the sea urchin Loxechinus albus. J Therm Biol 2017; 68:104-109. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jtherbio.2017.03.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2016] [Revised: 03/15/2017] [Accepted: 03/19/2017] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
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15
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Morand-Ferron J. Why learn? The adaptive value of associative learning in wild populations. Curr Opin Behav Sci 2017. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cobeha.2017.03.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
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16
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Barrios-SanMartín J, Figueroa CC, Ramírez CC. Evidence of plastic probing behavior in a 'superclone' of the grain aphid Sitobion avenae. BULLETIN OF ENTOMOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2016; 106:801-808. [PMID: 27573283 DOI: 10.1017/s0007485316000754] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Abstract
Asexual reproduction is very common in invasive insect pest. In the recent years, increasing evidences have shown that some invasive asexual lineages display an outstanding capacity to predominate in space and persist on time (superclones). However, little is known about the host-use behavior of these superclones. The English grain aphid Sitobion avenae (Fabricius) (Hemiptera: Aphididae) is one of the major pests of cereals worldwide. Chilean populations of the grain aphid are characterized by a high degree of heterozygosity and low genotypic variability across regions and years, with only four predominant superclone genotypes representing nearly 90% of populations. In this study, (1) the reproductive performance and (2) the probing behavior followed a host shift of one superclone and one non-superclone of S. avenae, were compared. The host plant in the superclone did not affect the reproductive performance, while in the non-superclone was lower on highly defended wheat seedling. The experimental switching of the host plants from barley (without chemical defenses) to two wheat species with low and high levels of chemical defenses, revealed that superclone exhibited a flexible probing activities related to access of sieve elements, while the non-superclone exhibited rigid responses. These findings are consistent with the pattern of occurrence of these genotypes in the field on cereals with different plant defenses (e.g. benzoxazinoids). These responses are discussed on the view of developing new strategies for the management in invasive populations of aphid pest species.
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Affiliation(s)
- J Barrios-SanMartín
- Millennium Nucleus Center in Molecular Ecology and Evolutionary Applications in the Agroecosystems,Instituto de Ciencias Biológicas,Universidad de Talca,2 Norte 685,Talca,Chile
| | - C C Figueroa
- Millennium Nucleus Center in Molecular Ecology and Evolutionary Applications in the Agroecosystems,Instituto de Ciencias Biológicas,Universidad de Talca,2 Norte 685,Talca,Chile
| | - C C Ramírez
- Millennium Nucleus Center in Molecular Ecology and Evolutionary Applications in the Agroecosystems,Instituto de Ciencias Biológicas,Universidad de Talca,2 Norte 685,Talca,Chile
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17
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Smid HM, Vet LE. The complexity of learning, memory and neural processes in an evolutionary ecological context. CURRENT OPINION IN INSECT SCIENCE 2016; 15:61-69. [PMID: 27436733 DOI: 10.1016/j.cois.2016.03.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/11/2015] [Revised: 03/18/2016] [Accepted: 03/22/2016] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Abstract
The ability to learn and form memories is widespread among insects, but there exists considerable natural variation between species and populations in these traits. Variation manifests itself in the way information is stored in different memory forms. This review focuses on ecological factors such as environmental information, spatial aspects of foraging behavior and resource distribution that drive the evolution of this natural variation and discusses the role of different genes and neural networks. We conclude that at the level of individual, population or species, insect learning and memory cannot be described as good or bad. Rather, we argue that insects evolve tailor-made learning and memory types; they gate learned information into memories with high or low persistence. This way, they are prepared to learn and form memory to optimally deal with the specific ecologies of their foraging environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hans M Smid
- Laboratory of Entomology, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Louise Em Vet
- Laboratory of Entomology, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands; Department of Terrestrial Ecology, Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW), Wageningen, The Netherlands.
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