Revitalizing augmentation biological control: Employing immunomarking techniques and behavior-modifying semiochemicals to track and improve efficiency
Abstract
Immunoproteins are markers that are useful for monitoring dispersal and/or pest consumption, but current application techniques are less effective for the large guild of piercing-sucking predators used in biological control. Protein immunomarkers were employed to track the emigration of the spined solider bug, Podisus maculiventris (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) and predation on the hornworm caterpillar, Manduca sexta (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae). This quantification was then extrapolated for use in a large-scale, long-term field experiment which allowed for the evaluation of different augmentation biological control manipulations. Behavior-modifying semiochemicals such as herbivore-induced plant volatiles (HIPVs) and aggregation pheromones have the potential to alter insect behavior through increasing the retention of and/or predation by the individuals and were exploited in the manipulations. Through monitoring immunoprotein marks, augmented P. maculiventris were determined to be retained at significantly higher levels when releases were done under optimal weather conditions, an effect that is enhanced when also engaging a species specific aggregation pheromone as a lure. Thus augmentation of the generalist predator P. maculiventris can be improved through utilization of semiochemicals manipulations however future work should focus on the mechanism of lure attraction to P. maculiventris and the long-term, potentially non-target, impact(s) of development under elevated semiochemical levels.
Degree
M.S.
Advisors
Kaplan, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Entomology|Agriculture
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