Caught on camera: Field imagery reveals the unexpected importance of vertebrates for biological control of the banana weevil (Cosmopolites sordidus Col. Curculionidae).

ABSTRACT: Understanding of ecological interactions is necessary for the application of biological control. Banana is the second most produced fruit worldwide and the banana weevil (Cosmopolites sordidus) is the most important pest of banana and plantain. Its biological control remains challenging because of the robustness and cryptic behaviour of the adult and the hidden development of larval stages. Researchers therefore tend to favour conservation biological control of this pest. The commonly used methods for measuring the effects of natural enemies on the regulation of this pest focus on invertebrates and may underestimate the role of vertebrates on biological control. Using cameras, we recorded the predation of sentinel adult weevils in banana plots in La Réunion island that differed in weevil i

SUBMITTER: Tresson P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9488773 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature