Honeysuckle Fruit Research Articles

Phenolic Acid Profiles in Some Small Berries

The composition of phenolic acids in several small berries grown in Northeastern Poland, namely, low-bush blueberries, black mulberries, European juneberries, black currants, fruits of blue-berried honeysuckle, and blackberries, was determined by gas chromatography (GC) and mass spectrometry (MS). The total content of phenolic acids, identified by GC-MS, ranged from 2845.8 +/- 141.0 (black mulberries) to 5418.2 +/- 228.0 (blue-berried honeysuckle). Twenty phenolic acids were identified in the berries. Of these, hydroxycaffeic, m- and p-coumaric, and 3,4-dimethoxycinnamic acids were the major phenolic acids in blackberries and blueberries, m-coumaric acid was the major phenolic acid in blue-berried honeysuckle and black currant fruits, while salicylic, caffeic, and m- and p-coumaric acids were the predominant phenolic acids in European juneberries. Syringic and veratric acids were detected only in blueberries, while p-hydroxybenzoic and sinapic acids were present only in black currants and o-coumaric acid was present in blueberries and black mulberries. The phenolic acids liberated from esters and glycosidic bonds were the major fractions of phenolic acids in the berries.

SOURCES OF APPLE ODOR ATTRACTIVE TO ADULT PLUM CURCULIOS

We evaluated olfactory attraction of overwintered plum curculio (PC) adults, Conotrachelus nenuphar, to volatiles from extracts of host and nonhost plant tissues in the laboratory using a still-air dual-choice bioassay system. In experiments evaluating four different solvents, hexane and water proved to be better than dichloromethane and methanol for extracting nonpolar and polar attractive compounds, respectively, from host McIntosh apple tissues. Significantly more PCs were attracted to volatiles from hexane extracts of host wild plum fruit at bloom, and host wild plum and McIntosh fruit at two weeks after bloom, than to volatiles from hexane extracts of nonhost honeysuckle fruit at either phenological stage. In every case, for hexane-extracted or water-extracted volatiles from McIntosh apple tissues (twigs, leaves, or fruit) at seven phenological stages of development (pink through five weeks after bloom), greatest numerical responses were recorded to volatiles from extracts made between bloom and two weeks after bloom. We conclude that source material used to identify volatile components of McIntosh apple odor attractive to PCs should be collected between bloom and two weeks after bloom.

Exploitation of the Host’s Chemical Communication in a Parasitoid Searching for Concealed Host Larvae

We found empirical evidence for the exploitation of the host’s chemical communication in a parasitic wasp foraging for a concealed host. Female Halticoptera laevigata wasps (Hym., Pteromalidae) searched longer and probed more frequently on honeysuckle fruit that carried fresh marking pheromone or harbored a first instar larva of its host, the tephritid fruit fly, Myoleja lucida. They further increased their searching efforts on fruits that provided both host‐related cues. While the exploitation of host marking pheromones for host location had previously been shown in two parasitoid species attacking the eggs of their tephritid hosts, this is the first evidence for the exploitation of a host’s marking pheromone in a parasitoid attacking the larvae of an herbivorous host. Taking into account the time interval between application of host marking pheromones and parasitoid attack plus the fact that these pheromones are generally water soluble and thus might be washed off by rains, we discuss the reliability‐detectability problem for the exploitation of those cues for host location in parasitoids attacking a larval host.

To mark the host or the patch: Decisions of a parasitoid searching for concealed host larvae

We found evidence for patch marking in the parasitic wasp Halticoptera laevigata (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) foraging for concealed hosts. Wasps attack larvae of the fruit fly Myoleja lucida (Diptera: Tephritidae) in fruits of honeysuckle. A special feature of this host-parasitoid system is the limited food supply of a patch (i.e. a fruit of honeysuckle), which allows the successful development of only a single host fly larva. Females of the parasitoid H. laevigata were found to mark the host patch with a pheromone and to abandon the patch following oviposition into a single host larva. Field data revealed that eggs of the parasitoid were spread out evenly among infested patches, with several larvae of the host fly left unparasitized in those patches that contained more than one host. Since many parasitic insects mark the parasitized host after oviposition, we assumed host marking to be the ancestral character state and studied the patch-marking behaviour of H. laevigata as a derived character state as an alternative foraging strategy. We used stochastic dynamic modelling to investigate under what conditions mutant (patch) markers would be able to invade a population of normal (larval) markers. The models suggested that, under a variety of conditions, wasps marking the patch obtained higher fitness than wasps only marking the larva. Consequently, the results from our model predict the evolution of the patch-marking behaviour found in the empirical investigation. Finally, we discuss alternative pathways to the evolution of patch marking and point out under what circumstances the evolution of a patch-marking behaviour can generally be expected.

Interactions between birds and fruit in a temperate woodland.

The phenology of fruit trees and avian consumption of fruit were examined in Wytham wood, Oxford in 1979-1980. Ripe fruit was available to and fed upon by birds from late August until early May. Observations made on a daily transect indicated that most of the fruit was eaten by tits and thrushes, but the two families differed in the seasonal consumption and species of fruit taken. Tits took fruits of Elder, Bramble, White Bryony, Honeysuckle, Black Bryony, and Woody Nightshade at the beginning of the season only, while thrushes consumed fruits of Elder, Bramble, Hawthorn, Sloe, Rose, and Ivy mainly in the middle and end of the season. Members of these two families also visited different habitat types following the consumption of fruit, probably effecting different patterns of dispersal. There was no correlation between feeding preferences and the abundance or profitabilities (as defined by Pyke et al. 1977) of fruits with respect to total nitrogen, total proteins, total carbohydrates, total fats, or kilocalories. It is concluded that other factors such as palatability or content of other nutrients may be important in determining the feeding preferences of different species of frugivorous birds.