Abstract
Simple SummaryDifferent herbivores feeding on the same plant can interact through plant-mediated effects. Cotton whitefly and diamondback moth are two of the most destructive pests in the world, and they often occur together in cruciferous plants. However, how the performance and fitness of them are affected when co-occurring in the same host plant remains unclear. The present study demonstrates that cotton whitefly has become a dominant competitor by gaining increased fitness benefits when it is mixed with DBM on the same host plant irrespective of sequences of their arrival, which may be one of the reasons for the rapid expansion and outbreak of the whitefly population worldwide.Bemisia tabaci and the diamondback moth (DBM), Plutella xylostella, are two major cosmopolitan pests that often occur together and cause severe economic losses to cruciferous crops. However, little is known about how they interact with each other. To determine the effects of defense responses induced by the two pests on the biology and population dynamics of the herbivores, we studied the performance and fitness of B. tabaci and DBM when they damaged Chinese kale simultaneously and in different orders. The results showed that DBM pre-infestation shortened the developmental duration, increased longevity, oviposition days, and fecundity of B. tabaci. Meanwhile, the intrinsic rate of increase (r), net reproductive rate (R0) and finite rate of increase (λ) of B. tabaci increased significantly with dual infection as compared with only B. tabaci infestation. In contrast, B. tabaci pre-infestation reduced the longevity and oviposition days of DBM, but the population parameters r, R0, and λ did not vary significantly compared with only DBM infestation. Thus, co-infestation of B. tabaci and DBM was beneficial to the performance of the B. tabaci population. The present findings highlight that B. tabaci has become a dominant competitor when mixing with DBM on the same host plant.
Highlights
In ecological systems, plants are often infested by various herbivorous insects at the same time or at different times [1,2,3]
Biology 2022, 11, 72 when it is mixed with diamondback moth (DBM) on the same host plant, which may be one of the reasons for the rapid expansion and outbreak of B. tabaci population worldwide
The egg-adult developmental duration of B. tabaci was 7.9% and 6.2% lower in plants that were pre-infested with DBM (PX − BT treatment) or simultaneously exposed to whiteflies plus DBM (PX + BT treatment) than in plants infested with whiteflies only (BT, control treatment) (p < 0.05), respectively (Table 1)
Summary
Plants are often infested by various herbivorous insects at the same time or at different times [1,2,3]. The growth and development of herbivores are often negatively affected when the involved insects belong to the same feeding guilds but positive for subsequent herbivore performance when they belong to different feeding guilds [11,12,13,14]. It has been reported that early arriving herbivores negatively affect subsequent insect developmental duration and population growth when the involved insects are from different feeding guilds [16]. It is possible that different herbivorous insect species simultaneously damage the same plant This may lead to complex interactions between different insect species that are derived from physiological and metabolic changes in the plants [17,18,19]. Exploring interspecific interactions across different herbivores can allow us to understand how herbivore performance is affected when herbivores from different feeding guilds co-occur on the same host plant
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