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Mogensen AL, Andersen LB, Sørensen JG, Offenberg J. Manipulated ants: inducing loyalty to sugar feeders with an alkaloid. PEST MANAGEMENT SCIENCE 2024; 80:3445-3450. [PMID: 38407544 DOI: 10.1002/ps.8049] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/24/2023] [Revised: 02/22/2024] [Accepted: 02/26/2024] [Indexed: 02/27/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Wood ants are promising biocontrol agents in fruit plantations because they prey on pest insects and inhibit plant diseases. However, these ants also attend plant-feeding homopterans to harvest their honeydew secretions, thereby increasing their numbers. This problem can be solved by offering ants alternative sugar sources that are more attractive than honeydew. From natural interactions, it is known that some species manipulate mutualistic partners toward loyalty by adding alkaloids to the food they offer their mutualists. Inspired by this, the addition of alkaloids might be used to make ants loyal to artificial sugar feeders and thus used to reduce populations of ant-farmed homopterans in ant-mediated biological control. We aimed to explore whether wood ants (Formica polyctena) would develop a taste preference for morphine-containing sugar solutions in two-choice laboratory tests. RESULTS After having fed on a morphine/sugar solution for 1 week, ants showed a significant preference for morphine solutions compared with equal concentration sugar solutions without morphine. Furthermore, ants lost this preference after 6-9 days on a morphine-free diet. CONCLUSION The results show that wood ants react to morphine in their food, enabling chemical manipulation of their behavior, most likely through a taste preference. Thus, ants are susceptible to manipulation by mutualistic partners in natural interactions and furthermore may be manipulated artificially in biocontrol programs to avoid ant-mediated build-up of homopteran populations. © 2024 The Authors. Pest Management Science published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anders Lander Mogensen
- Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
- Department of Ecoscience, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Laurits Bundgaard Andersen
- Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
- Department of Ecoscience, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
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Jensen IC, Hansen RR, Damgaard C, Offenberg J. Implementing wood ants in biocontrol: Suppression of apple scab and reduced aphid tending. PEST MANAGEMENT SCIENCE 2023; 79:2415-2422. [PMID: 36811225 DOI: 10.1002/ps.7422] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/17/2022] [Revised: 02/10/2023] [Accepted: 02/21/2023] [Indexed: 06/02/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Ants can become efficient biocontrol agents in plantation crops as they prey on pest insects and may inhibit plant pathogens by excreting broad-spectrum antibiotics. However, ants also provide a disservice by augmenting attended honeydew producing homopterans. This disservice may be avoided by offering ants artificial sugar as an alternative to honeydew. Here we tested the effect of artificial sugar feeding on aphid abundance in an apple plot with wood ants (Formica polyctena, Förster), and tested the effect of ant presence on apple scab (Venturia inaequalis, Cooke) disease incidence. RESULTS Over a 2-year period, sugar feeding eliminated ant-attended aphid populations on the apple trees. Furthermore, scab symptoms on both leaves and apples were reduced considerably on ant trees compared to control trees without ants. The presence of ants on the trees reduced leaf scab infections by 34%, whereas spot numbers on fruits were reduced by between 53 and 81%, depending on apple variety. In addition, the spots were 56% smaller. CONCLUSION This shows that problems with wood ant-attended homopterans can be solved and that ants can control both insect pests and plant pathogens. We therefore propose wood ants as a new effective biocontrol agent suitable for implementation in apple orchards and possibly other plantation crops. © 2023 The Authors. Pest Management Science published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.
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Anjos DV, Tena A, Viana-Junior AB, Carvalho RL, Torezan-Silingardi H, Del-Claro K, Perfecto I. The effects of ants on pest control: a meta-analysis. Proc Biol Sci 2022; 289:20221316. [PMID: 35975443 PMCID: PMC9382213 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2022.1316] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Environmental impacts of conventional agriculture have generated interest in sustainable agriculture. Biological pest control is a fundamental tool, and ants are key players providing ecological services, as well as some disservices. We have used a meta-analytical approach to investigate the contribution of ants to biological control, considering their effects on pest and natural enemy abundance, plant damage and crop yield. We also evaluated whether the effects of ants are modulated by traits of ants, pests and other natural enemies, as well as by field size, crop system and experiment duration. Overall (considering all meta-analyses), from 52 studies on 17 different crops, we found that ants decrease the abundance of non-honeydew-producing pests, decrease plant damage and increase crop yield (services). In addition, ants decrease the abundance of natural enemies, mainly the generalist ones, and increase honeydew-producing pest abundance (disservices). We show that the pest control and plant protection provided by ants are boosted in shaded crops compared to monocultures. Furthermore, ants increase crop yield in shaded crops, and this effect increases with time. Finally, we bring new insights such as the importance of shaded crops to ant services, providing a good tool for farmers and stakeholders considering sustainable farming practices.
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Affiliation(s)
- Diego V. Anjos
- Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, Uberlândia, Minas Gerais 38405-302, Brazil
| | - Alejandro Tena
- Centro de Protección Vegetal y Biotecnología, Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Agrarias (IVIA), Moncada, Spain
| | - Arleu Barbosa Viana-Junior
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biodiversidade e Evolução, Coordenação de Zoologia, Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, Belém, Para 66077-830, Brazil
| | - Raquel L. Carvalho
- Instituto de Estudos Avançados, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, 05508-020, Brazil
| | - Helena Torezan-Silingardi
- Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, Uberlândia, Minas Gerais 38405-302, Brazil
| | - Kleber Del-Claro
- Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, Uberlândia, Minas Gerais 38405-302, Brazil
| | - Ivette Perfecto
- School for Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
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Georgiadis NM, Dimitropoulos G, Avanidou K, Bebeli P, Bergmeier E, Dervisoglou S, Dimopoulos T, Grigoropoulou D, Hadjigeorgiou I, Kairis O, Kakalis E, Kosmas K, Meyer S, Panitsa M, Perdikis D, Sfakianou D, Tsiopelas N, Kizos T. Farming practices and biodiversity: Evidence from a Mediterranean semi-extensive system on the island of Lemnos (North Aegean, Greece). JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT 2022; 303:114131. [PMID: 34838379 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.114131] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/29/2021] [Revised: 11/16/2021] [Accepted: 11/16/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
The management of agroecosystems affects biodiversity at all levels from genetic to food-web complexity. Low-input farming systems support higher levels of genetic, species and habitat diversity than high-input, industrial ones. In Greece, as in other Mediterranean countries, the role of traditional farming practices has been underlined in studies concerning conservation in agricultural landscapes. With this study, we aim to provide evidence for the potential of semi-extensive farming for biodiversity conservation at landscape-scale, focusing on Lemnos, a medium-sized island in the North Aegean. Evidence was gathered by species- and community-level local-scale surveys on various trophic levels (vascular plants, arthropods, birds). The surveys took place in 2018 and 2019 in 25 sampling areas comprising 106 plots of 100 m2 (vascular plants, arthropods) and 57 points where bird species were recorded. The plots were classified into three landscape types: mosaic agriculture, mixed rangelands and uniform rangelands. The relevés of Lemnos farmlands were assigned to plant communities of 18 phytosociological alliances, grouped into 12 classes. The most abundant arthropods were Coleoptera, Chilopoda, and Hymenoptera, followed by Opiliones and Isopoda, while 133 different bird species were recorded in total, including the recording for the first time on the island of five species. Farming on Lemnos is rather extensive compared to most agricultural landscapes of Europe. Our approach has demonstrated that, given the geographic characteristics of the area, the measured data reveal very high biodiversity. Our explorative findings suggest that moderate seasonal grazing, the mixed habitat mosaic with ecotones, fallow and stubble fields at the landscape scale, and the small size of fields, the kinds of crop, and farm-scale crop diversification, like mixed cultivation and crop rotation, are key practices supporting this diversity. These explorative findings are considered as a first step providing the baseline for future assessments. A wider effort, for systematic evaluation of the impacts of farming practices to biodiversity, is required, as part of a subsidized agri-environmental scheme and/or through a market-oriented product certification system for the area.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - George Dimitropoulos
- Mediterranean Institute for Nature and Anthropos (MedINA), 10671, Athens, Greece.
| | - Kalliopi Avanidou
- University of the Aegean, Department of Geography, University Hill, Mytilini, 81100, Greece.
| | - Penelope Bebeli
- Agricultural University of Athens, Department of Plant Breeding and Biometry, Iera Odos 75, Athens, 11855, Greece.
| | - Erwin Bergmeier
- University of Goettingen, Albrecht-von-Haller-Institute of Plant Sciences, Department Vegetation and Phytodiversity Analysis, Untere Karspüle 1a, 37073, Göttingen, Germany.
| | - Sofia Dervisoglou
- Laboratory of Agricultural Zoology and Entomology, Agricultural University of Athens, Iera Odos 75, 118 55, Athens, Greece.
| | - Thymios Dimopoulos
- Mediterranean Institute for Nature and Anthropos (MedINA), 10671, Athens, Greece.
| | | | - Ioannis Hadjigeorgiou
- Department of Animal Science, Agricultural University of Athens, 75 Iera Odos, Athens, 11855, Greece.
| | - Orestis Kairis
- Laboratory of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Agricultural University of Athens, Iera Odos 75, Athina, 118 55, Greece.
| | - Eletherios Kakalis
- University of Patras, Department of Biology, Division of Plant Biology, GR-26504, Rio, Greece.
| | - Konstantinos Kosmas
- Laboratory of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Agricultural University of Athens, Iera Odos 75, Athina, 118 55, Greece.
| | - Stefan Meyer
- University of Goettingen, Albrecht-von-Haller-Institute of Plant Sciences, Department Vegetation and Phytodiversity Analysis, Untere Karspüle 1a, 37073, Göttingen, Germany.
| | - Maria Panitsa
- University of Patras, Department of Biology, Division of Plant Biology, GR-26504, Rio, Greece.
| | - Dionisios Perdikis
- Laboratory of Agricultural Zoology and Entomology, Agricultural University of Athens, Iera Odos 75, 118 55, Athens, Greece.
| | - Danae Sfakianou
- Mediterranean Institute for Nature and Anthropos (MedINA), 81400, Lemnos, Greece.
| | - Nikos Tsiopelas
- Hellenic Ornithological Society (HOS), Themistokleous 80, GR 10681, Athens, Greece.
| | - Thanasis Kizos
- University of the Aegean, Department of Geography, University Hill, Mytilini, 81100, Greece.
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Eradication and Control Strategies for Red Imported Fire Ants (Solenopsis invicta) in Taiwan. SUSTAINABILITY 2020. [DOI: 10.3390/su12103951] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Invasive alien species are one of the major threats to biological diversity, public safety, agriculture, and economics. In recent years, a new wave of the red imported fire ant (RIFA) has been detected in new regions, including Kobe (Japan), Daegu (South Korea), Kaohsiung (Taiwan), and other locations in southeast Asia. Due to the increasing number of invasions, practitioners and scientists are seeking effective strategies to respond to RIFA invasions in Pacific regions, especially in countries that have had no presence of RIFA. This study aims to identify the strategies adopted to eradicate RIFA in Taiwan and to elucidate some of the assumptions about RIFA prevention and treatment in infested areas with diverse land patterns. Through a literature review and examination of eradication cases in Taiwan, five essential eradication lessons are discussed: (1) Immediate action through partnership with universities and the private sector; (2) engagement with the public and community with an interest in RIFA control through technology; (3) establishment of multi-level horizontal networks of response teams; (4) strategy implementation ranging from large-scale prevention to precise treatment; and (5) adoption of technology and social media. These strategies will have implications and applications for east and south Asian countries that are dealing with similar challenges.
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