Abstract
AbstractDrosophila larvae infested by endoparasitoids can survive the infestation by an immune reaction leading to the encapsulation and destruction of parasitoid eggs. Conversely, parasitoids can escape the encapsulation by inhibiting this immune reaction. These processes could be influenced by exposure to pesticides, so an experiment was designed to investigate this possibility. Two strains of Drosophila melanogaster Meigen were tested, one with a high capacity for encapsulation (reactive strain) and the other with a very low capacity for encapsulation (nonreactive strain). We compared their immune reaction capacity after infestation when reared on a medium containing or not containing an LD30 of insecticide. Six different insecticides were tested. Two appeared to modify the effectiveness of the immune reaction. When the reactive strain was tested, dieldrin decreased the success of the immune reaction by 25%, and endosulfan, by 23%. Endosulfan also decreased the encapsulation rate of this strain by 26%. With the nonreactive strain no effect was observed regardless of insecticide. The possible causes of these weakening of encapsulation ability and their consequences on the evolution of these species are discussed.
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