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. 2011;6(5):e20324.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0020324. Epub 2011 May 25.

Reevaluation of the value of autoparasitoids in biological control

Lian-Sheng Zang  1 , Tong-Xian Liu, Fang-Hao Wan
Affiliations

Reevaluation of the value of autoparasitoids in biological control

Lian-Sheng Zang et al. PLoS One. 2011.

Abstract

Autoparasitoids with the capacity of consuming primary parasitoids that share the same hosts to produce males are analogous to intraguild predators. The use of autoparasitoids in biological control programs is a controversial matter because there is little evidence to support the view that autoparasitoids do not disrupt and at times may promote suppression of insect pests in combination with primary parasitoids. We found that Encarsia sophia, a facultative autoparasitoid, preferred to use heterospecific hosts as secondary hosts for producing males. The autoparasitoids mated with males originated from heterospecifics may parasitize more hosts than those mated with males from conspecifics. Provided with an adequate number of males, the autoparasitoids killed more hosts than En. formosa, a commonly used parasitoid for biological control of whiteflies. This study supports the view that autoparasitoids in combination with primary parasitoids do not disrupt pest management and may enhance such programs. The demonstrated preference of an autoparasitoid for heterospecifics and improved performance of males from heterospecifics observed in this study suggests these criteria should be considered in strategies that endeavor to mass-produce and utilize autoparasitoids in the future.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Number of secondary hosts (En. sophia, En. formosa, Er. melanoscutus) parasitized (A) and fed on (B) by two En. sophia female adults during 48-h exposure under no-choice conditions.
The same letters above bars in each figure indicate that means do not differ significantly (P>0.05, Tukey's HSD test).
Figure 2
Figure 2. Number of secondary hosts parasitized (A) and fed on (B) by two En. sophia female adults during 48-h exposure under paired choice conditions.
The paired bars with an ‘*’ or ‘**’ indicate that the means differ significantly at P<0.05 or P<0.01 (paired t-test), respectively. Secondary hosts∶ E.S. = En. sophia, E.F. = En. formosa, E.M. = Er. melanoscutus.
Figure 3
Figure 3. Oviposition period (A) and total whitefly nymphs parasitized (B) by En. sophia female mated with male originated from different secondary hosts.
The same letters above the bars in each figure indicate that means do not differ significantly (P>0.05, Tukey's HSD test). ESM, EFM and EMM indicated that males from En. sophia, En. formosa and Er. melanoscutus, respectively.
Figure 4
Figure 4. Proportion of total whitefly nymphs killed due to parasitism and host feeding by En. sophia with different released ratio of male: female and En. formosa.
The same letters above bars in each figure indicate that means do not differ significantly (P>0.05, Tukey's HSD test). E.F. - En. formosa.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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