Population genomics and demographic modeling enhance our understanding of trophic level interactions in biological control

• Published in: Biological control 2024-09, Vol.196, p.105585, Article 105585
• Main Authors: Sethuraman, Arun, Obrycki, John J.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Intraguild interactions; Population demographic models; Population genomics; Predator population dynamics; Trophic connections
• ISSN: 1049-9644; 1090-2112
• DOI: 10.1016/j.biocontrol.2024.105585

•Population genomics can elucidate historical and contemporary population dynamics of natural enemies, their pests, conspecific competitors, and parasitoids.•Demographic models based on genomic data can enhance understanding of trophic level interactions across species.•In this paper we present a proof of concept using population genomic techniques to complement ecological studies of population dynamics across trophic levels. In this paper, we focus on the application of population genomics, including next-generation sequencing and demographic modeling, to enhance the understanding of historical and contemporary trophic level interactions that are a fundamental basis of biological control. We outline how the integration of ecological approaches with population genomics and demographic modeling can provide additional insights into existing trophic interactions and how natural enemies, their parasitoids, and pest species evolve through these interactions, potentially affecting future levels of biological control. We briefly review and summarize our recent population genomic studies of predatory ladybird beetles and discuss how our results provide guidelines for the use of population genomics techniques and population demographic modeling to enhance our understanding of trophic level interactions. Our intent is to demonstrate as a proof of concept, how these methods can supplement currently used techniques and add a complementary genomic aspect to ecological understandings of trophic level interactions, including estimates of effective population sizes of natural enemies and pest species, examination of correlations between these effective population sizes, and evolutionary changes in natural enemies and pest species which may influence levels of biological control. This in combination with experiments and simulations provide a well-rounded framework for using population genomics to inform multi-tier trophic level interactions.