Abstract
Zoophytophagous predators provide benefits in agroecosystems when feeding on pests, but they can also cause crop damage. Optimizing the use of zoophytophagous predators as biocontrol agents would require improving pest control and/or limiting damage. Populations of a zoophytophagous species can be composed of a mix of individuals diverging in their level of diet specialization. Consequently, depending on their level of zoophagy, individuals would vary widely in the benefits and risks they provide to pest management. We tested the hypothesis that manipulating the composition of the population of a zoophytophagous insect, the mullein bug, Campylomma verbasci (Hemiptera: Miridae), towards an increased zoophagy would increase their net benefit in an apple orchard. We compared the inherent benefits and risks of two different isogroup lines of mullein bug that genetically differed in their level of zoophagy. In spring, when damage occurs, both strains infrequently punctured apple fruit, which rarely lead to damage and therefore represented a low risk. During summer, only the highly-zoophagous line impacted the spider mite population, while the lowly-zoophagous line did not differ from the control treatments. We concluded that manipulating the composition of the zoophytophagous predator population provided extra net benefits that improved pest control.
Highlights
Zoophytophagous predators can substitute prey with plant food items to deal with prey shortage or to complement animal diet [1]
The beneficial role of the mullein bug Campylomma verbasci (Meyer) (Hemiptera: Miridae) in apple orchards has been neglected because of potential crop damage [9,10]
We evaluated whether a highly-zoophagous mullein bug line (HZ line) would provide more benefits in apple orchards than lowly-zoophagous lines (LZ line)
Summary
Zoophytophagous predators can substitute prey with plant food items to deal with prey shortage or to complement animal diet [1]. These predators are frequently encountered in numerous agricultural systems [2] and can reduce pest populations considerably [3]. Some zoophytophagous predators have an ambiguous status Their phytophagous behaviour can cause more damage than the benefits provided by their predatory behavior. The beneficial role of the mullein bug Campylomma verbasci (Meyer) (Hemiptera: Miridae) in apple orchards has been neglected because of potential crop damage (i.e., this insect causes dark corky warts surrounded by a depression at the surface of the fruit when feeding on developing apple fruits) [9,10]
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