Feeding preferences of the aphidophagous hoverfly Sphaerophoria rueppellii affect the performance of its offspring

Provision of additional floral resources in the crop is a successful strategy of conservation biological control for attracting several natural enemies including predatory syrphids. However, the selection of flower species is mainly based on visiting preferences, paying little attention to the link...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:BioControl (Dordrecht, Netherlands) Netherlands), 2014-08, Vol.59 (4), p.427-435
Main Authors: Amorós-Jiménez, Rocco, Pineda, Ana, Fereres, Alberto, Marcos-García, M. Ángeles
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adults
Agriculture
Alyssum
Animal Biochemistry
Animal Ecology
Behavioral Sciences
Biological control
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Body size
Capsicum annuum
cereal aphids
Coriandrum sativum
Crops
Diptera
Eggs
Entomology
episyrphus-balteatus diptera
feeding preferences
Fertility
floral resources
Flowers
Flowers & plants
host-plant
hymenopteran parasitoids
insectary plants
Insects
Life Sciences
Natural enemies
Offspring
Plant Pathology
Plants (botany)
progeny
Sphaerophoria
sweet-pepper greenhouses
Syrphidae
Wildlife management
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Provision of additional floral resources in the crop is a successful strategy of conservation biological control for attracting several natural enemies including predatory syrphids. However, the selection of flower species is mainly based on visiting preferences, paying little attention to the link between preference and performance. In this study, we assess the influence of feeding on flowers of two insectary plants (sweet alyssum and coriander) and flowers of a crop species (sweet pepper) on performance of the parental and first generation of the syrphid Sphaerophoria rueppellii (Wiedemann) (Diptera: Syrphidae). We found that floral preference of the adults was linked to developmental performance of their offspring. Sweet alyssum was the flower most frequently visited by syrphid adults, enhancing adult body size and egg-to adult survival of the F1 generation.
ISSN:1386-6141
1573-8248
DOI:10.1007/s10526-014-9577-8