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Aphid Parasitoid Mothers Don't Always Know Best through the Whole Host Selection Process.

ABSTRACT: Parasitoid host selection behaviour has been extensively studied in experimentally simplified tritrophic systems formed by one single food chain (one plant, one herbivore and one parasitoid species). The "Mother knows best" hypothesis predicts that the preference for a plant-host complex should be positively correlated with plant quality for offspring performance. We studied the host selection behaviour of the generalist endoparasitoid Aphidius matricariae towards the black bean aphid Aphis fabae in the intercrop system including Vicia faba as a focal plant and its companion plant Camelina sativa. Dual-choice laboratory bioassays revealed that parasitoid females preferred to orientate towards (1) the plant-aphid complex over the non-infested plant whatever the complex (2) the C. sativa-A. fabae complex over the V. faba-A. fabae complex. In dual choice attack rate bioassays, parasitoid females showed more interest towards the aphids on C. sativa but paradoxically chose to oviposit more in aphids on V. faba. Ultimately, parasitoids that had developed on the V. faba-A. fabae complex exhibited better fitness parameters. By demonstrating that parasitoid females were able to discriminate the aphid host that offered the highest fitness to their offspring but selected beforehand the least suitable plant-aphid complex, we provide key insight into the disruption in their host selection behaviour potentially triggered by diverse habitats. This suggests that the "Mother knows best" hypothesis could be thwarted by increasing the complexity of the studied systems.

SUBMITTER: Chesnais Q

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4535949 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:BackgroundMany animals exhibit variation in resistance to specific natural enemies. Such variation may be encoded in their genomes or derived from infection with protective symbionts. The pea aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisum, for example, exhibits tremendous variation in susceptibility to a common natural enemy, the parasitic wasp Aphidius ervi. Pea aphids are often infected with the heritable bacterial symbiont, Hamiltonella defensa, which confers partial to complete resistance against this parasitoid depending on bacterial strain and associated bacteriophages. That previous studies found that pea aphids without H. defensa (or other symbionts) were generally susceptible to parasitism, together with observations of a limited encapsulation response, suggested that pea aphids largely rely on infection with H. defensa for protection against parasitoids. However, the limited number of uninfected clones previously examined, and our recent report of two symbiont-free resistant clones, led us to explicitly examine aphid-encoded variability in resistance to parasitoids.ResultsAfter rigorous screening for known and unknown symbionts, and microsatellite genotyping to confirm clonal identity, we conducted parasitism assays using fifteen clonal pea aphid lines. We recovered significant variability in aphid-encoded resistance, with variation levels comparable to that contributed by H. defensa. Because resistance can be costly, we also measured aphid longevity and cumulative fecundity of the most and least resistant aphid lines under permissive conditions, but found no trade-offs between higher resistance and these fitness parameters.ConclusionsThese results indicate that pea aphid resistance to A. ervi is more complex than previously appreciated, and that aphids employ multiple tactics to aid in their defense. While we did not detect a tradeoff, these may become apparent under stressful conditions or when resistant and susceptible aphids are in direct competition. Understanding sources and amounts of variation in resistance to natural enemies is necessary to understand the ecological and evolutionary dynamics of antagonistic interactions, such as the potential for coevolution, but also for the successful management of pest populations through biological control.

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Aphid Parasitoid Mothers Don't Always Know Best through the Whole Host Selection Process.

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