"Generalist" Aphid Parasitoids Behave as Specialists at the Agroecosystem Scale.

ABSTRACT: The degree of trophic specialization of interacting organisms impacts on the structure of ecological networks and has consequences for the regulation of crop pests. However, it remains difficult to assess in the case of parasitoids. Host ranges are often established by listing host records from various years and geographic areas in the literature. Here, we compared the actual hosts exploited at a local farm-scale by aphid parasitoids (Hymenoptera: Aphidiinae), to the available species listed as hosts for each parasitoid species. We sampled aphids and their parasitoids in cultivated and uncultivated areas in an experimental farm from April to November 2014 and thereafter used DNA-based data to determine whether a differentiation in sequences existed. Twenty-nine parasitoid species were foun

SUBMITTER: Derocles SAP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7023390 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature