Abstract
Few studies have examined the competitive interaction between the house fly (HF) and the black soldier fly (BSF). The fact that the BSF deters HF oviposition is widely cited in BSF literature, but this interaction has not been assessed in over three decades. In this study, the competitive interaction of BSF and HF larvae was observed on fresh (day 0) and aged poultry manure (manure aged for two, four, six, or eight days). Specifically, a priority effect study was conducted to determine if colonization sequence influences time to first pupariation (HF) or pre-pupation (BSF), survivorship, and weight. Results show >70% of HFs reached pupariation in all treatments except when placed on manure eight days after the initial inoculation with BSF. However, age of the resource negatively impacted time to first pupariation and puparium weight when HFs were reared alone or introduced two to eight days after BSF. No BSF pre-pupae resulted from treatments in which HFs were the pioneering species. BSFs reached the highest percent pre-pupation when reared alone on fresh manure, but BSFs may be more susceptible to the negative impacts of an aging resource, as no pre-pupae were observed when provided with six- or eight-day-old manure. Similar to HFs, age of the resource may have impacted development and survivorship; other factors such as moisture content, chemical composition, and amount of resource provided may have also impacted our results. These data may be useful in implementing BSFs as biological control agents of the HF, as well provide valuable information for facilities mass-producing HFs or BSFs for food or feed.
Highlights
Competition is an interaction that occurs between individuals sharing a common resource, potentially resulting in reduced growth, reproduction, and/or survivorship [1]
In regard to black soldier fly (BSF) performance, there are obvious negative impacts on BSF growth and survivorship, which may be due to the presence of house fly (HF), but may be due to age of the resource or amount of resource provided during the experiment
HFs had a greater impact on BSF performance as early introductions inhibited BSF development. These results demonstrate that HFs are a true pest as they are able to persist in most treatments and, more importantly, their presence can be detrimental in a BSF mass-rearing facility
Summary
Competition is an interaction that occurs between individuals (of the same or different species) sharing a common resource, potentially resulting in reduced growth, reproduction, and/or survivorship [1]. House flies are known pests that can develop to pupariation on bovine, swine, or poultry manure in as little as five to eight days [3,4] They are vectors of numerous pathogens and may cause economic loss in animal production systems [5] via costs associated with fly control and could lead to contentious interactions between farmers and the public [6]. For these reasons, much of the research conducted on Insects 2019, 10, 440; doi:10.3390/insects10120440 www.mdpi.com/journal/insects
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