TY - JOUR

T1 - Conservation of non-pest whiteflies and natural enemies of the cabbage whitefly aleyrodes proletella on perennial plants for use in non-crop habitats

AU - Laurenz, Sebastian

AU - Meyhöfer, Rainer

N1 - Funding Information: Funding: The project was supported by funds of the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) based on a decision of the Parliament of the Federal Republic of Germany via the Federal Office for Agriculture and Food (BLE) under the innovation support program (grant number 2812NA016).

PY - 2021/9

Y1 - 2021/9

N2 - Aleyrodes proletella causes severe economic damage to several Brassica crops. Its naturally occurring enemies often immigrate late in the season or appear in low numbers on cabbage. This field study aims to permanently increase the local abundance of A. proletella’s natural enemies by providing the non-pest whitefly Aleyrodes lonicerae as an alternative and overwintering host/prey. Therefore, the population dynamics of natural enemies on different perennial herbaceous plants pre-infested with A. lonicerae were determined at two field locations over two winter periods. Most A. lonicerae colonized (on average 166.22 puparia per m2) and overwintered (342.19 adults per m2 ) on wood avens Geum urbanum. Furthermore, the abundance of A. proletella main parasitoid Encarsia tricolor (28.50 parasitized puparia per m2 ) and spiders (12.13 per m2 ) was 3–74 times and 3–14 times higher, respectively, on G. urbanum compared to the other experimental plants. Conclusively, G. urbanum pre-infested with A. lonicerae permanently promoted natural enemies of A. proletella by serving as shelter, reproduction, and overwintering habitat. A potential implementation of G. urbanum in conservation biological control strategies (e.g., tailored flower strips, hedgerows) against A. proletella are discussed and suggestions for future research are given.

AB - Aleyrodes proletella causes severe economic damage to several Brassica crops. Its naturally occurring enemies often immigrate late in the season or appear in low numbers on cabbage. This field study aims to permanently increase the local abundance of A. proletella’s natural enemies by providing the non-pest whitefly Aleyrodes lonicerae as an alternative and overwintering host/prey. Therefore, the population dynamics of natural enemies on different perennial herbaceous plants pre-infested with A. lonicerae were determined at two field locations over two winter periods. Most A. lonicerae colonized (on average 166.22 puparia per m2) and overwintered (342.19 adults per m2 ) on wood avens Geum urbanum. Furthermore, the abundance of A. proletella main parasitoid Encarsia tricolor (28.50 parasitized puparia per m2 ) and spiders (12.13 per m2 ) was 3–74 times and 3–14 times higher, respectively, on G. urbanum compared to the other experimental plants. Conclusively, G. urbanum pre-infested with A. lonicerae permanently promoted natural enemies of A. proletella by serving as shelter, reproduction, and overwintering habitat. A potential implementation of G. urbanum in conservation biological control strategies (e.g., tailored flower strips, hedgerows) against A. proletella are discussed and suggestions for future research are given.

KW - Aleyrodes lonicerae

KW - Alternative host/prey

KW - Conservation biological control

KW - Encarsia tricolor

KW - Field margin

KW - Functional biodiversity

KW - Habitat management

KW - Landscape ecology

KW - Parasitoids

KW - Predators

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85114497116&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.3390/insects12090774

DO - 10.3390/insects12090774

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85114497116

VL - 12

JO - Insects

JF - Insects

IS - 9

M1 - 774

ER -