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Airborne interactions between undamaged plants of different cultivars affect insect herbivores and natural enemies

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Abstract

This study investigated the effects of airborne interaction between different barley cultivars on the behaviour of bird cherry-oat aphid Rhopalosiphum padi, the ladybird Coccinella septempunctata and the parasitoid Aphidius colemani. In certain cultivar combinations, exposure of one cultivar to air passed over a different cultivar caused barley to have reduced aphid acceptance and increased attraction of ladybirds and parasitoids. Parasitoids attacked aphids that had developed on plants under exposure more often than those from unexposed plants, leading to a higher parasitisation rate. Ladybirds, but not parasitoids, were more attracted to combined odours from certain barley cultivars than either cultivar alone. The results show that airborne interactions between undamaged plants can affect higher trophic levels, and that odour differences between different genotypes of the same plant species may be sufficient to affect natural enemy behaviour.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by Mistra through the PlantComMistra program and by the Swedish Research Council for Environment, Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning (Formas).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Box 7044, 750 07, Uppsala, Sweden

    Robert Glinwood, Elham Ahmed, Erika Qvarfordt, Velemir Ninkovic & Jan Pettersson

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  1. Robert Glinwood
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  2. Elham Ahmed
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  3. Erika Qvarfordt
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  4. Velemir Ninkovic
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  5. Jan Pettersson
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Correspondence to Robert Glinwood.

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Handling Editor: Heikki Hokkanen.

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Glinwood, R., Ahmed, E., Qvarfordt, E. et al. Airborne interactions between undamaged plants of different cultivars affect insect herbivores and natural enemies. Arthropod-Plant Interactions 3, 215–224 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11829-009-9072-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11829-009-9072-9

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