Effects of aphid parasitism on host plant fitness in an aphid-host relationship.

ABSTRACT: Aphids are serious agricultural insect pests which exploit the phloem sap of host plants and thus transmit pathogens to their hosts. However, the degree to which aphid parsitism affects the fitness of the host plants is not well understood. The aphid, Macrosiphoniella yomogicola, parasitizes the mugwort Artemisia montana in Japan. During summer most mugworts carry aphids, but most aphid colonies die out after the budding of A. montana inflorescences in late summer. A few aphid colonies survive to late autumn, at which point sexuparae appear to later lay overwintering eggs after copulation. The death of the aphid colonies seems to be caused by biochemical changes in the phloem sap in the host plant coincident with the budding of inflorescences. The surviving aphid colonies may suppress the

SUBMITTER: Watanabe S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6107194 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature