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Temperature-dependent development and oviposition models and life history characteristics of Amblyseius eharai (Amitai et Swirski) (Acari: Phytoseiidae) preying on Tetranychus urticae (Koch) (Acari: Tetranychidae)

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aspen.2020.07.021Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Development and fecundity of A. ehari were well described by the Briere 1 and an extreme value function, respectively.

  • The r value of A. eharai was highest (0.2619) at 27.4 °C and lowest (0.0792) at 18.0 °C.

  • A. eharai has good potential for controlling C. vitis.

Abstract

Amblyseius eharai, a native predatory mite in Korea, has a potential as a biological control agent for small-sized pests. However, its ecological characteristics remain unclear. Thus, the objective of this study was to construct temperature-dependent development and oviposition models of A. eharai and evaluate its life table parameters. Its development was examined at 11 temperatures (18.0, 20.1, 21.6, 24.0, 24.1, 27.4, 28.6, 30.2, 32.0, 33.2, and 35.9 °C). The life table analysis was conducted using experimental data from 6 temperatures (18.0, 21.6, 24.1, 27.4, 30.2, and 33.2 °C). Development and fecundity of A. ehari were well described by the Briere 1 model and an extreme value function, respectively. The intrinsic rate of increase (r) was the highest (0.2619) at 27.4 °C and the lowest (0.0792) at 18.0 °C. Based on r values of A. eharai obtained in this study and published information of Calepitrimerus vitis, A. ehari has higher r values than C. vitis. A. eharai appears to have good potential as a biological control agent against C. vitis in vineyards.

Introduction

Phytoseiid mites are considered as very useful biological control agents against small-sized pests such as mites, thrips, and whiteflies that cause severe damage to various crops (McMurtry and Croft, 1997). Amblyseius eharai (Amitai et Swirski) (Acari: Phytoseiidae), a native species to Korea, is considered a biological control agent of Aceria litchii (Keifer) (Acari: Eriophyidae), Calepitrimerus vitis (Nalepa) (Acari: Eriophyidae), Panonychus citri (McGregor) (Acari: Tetranychidae), Pseudodendrothrips mori (Niwa) (Thysanoptera: Thripidae), Tetranychus kanzawai (Kishida) (Acari: Tetranychidae), and Tetranychus urticae (Koch) (Acari: Tetranychidae) in various orchard systems (Waite and Gerson, 1994, Lee et al., 1995, Lee et al., 2016, Kim et al., 2003, Kakimoto et al., 2004, Ji et al., 2013). A. eharai is also native to Japan, China, Taiwan, and Malaysia (Ehara, 2002). A. eharai occurs on various plants such as deciduous trees, conifers, shrubs, herbs, and vines (Ryu et al., 1997). It may feed on mites, whiteflies, thrips, and alternative food items such as pollen (Waite and Gerson, 1994, McMurtry and Croft, 1997, Kakimoto et al., 2004, Ji et al., 2013).

In Korea, A. eharai occurs abundantly in the early season. It disappears in mid and late seasons in apple orchards (Kim et al., 2003). On the contrary, in rain-shield grape vineyards, A. eharai occurs persistently throughout the season, showing a peak density in the late season (Lee et al., 2016, Lee, 2019). Thus, A. eharai may be more effective in grape vineyards than in apple orchards. A. eharai was suggested to have a good potential as a biological control agent against C. vitis and Frankliniella occidentalis (Pergande) (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) in grape vineyards (Lee et al., 2016).

However, limited information is available regarding the ecology of A. eharai (e.g., Zhang and Luo, 1990, Kim et al., 2003, Ji et al., 2013, Ji et al., 2015). Understanding ecological characteristics of A. eharai is important for evaluating its capacity as a biological control agent as well as for understating its population dynamics. Temperature-dependent development and oviposition models would be very useful to understand ecological characteristics of A. eharai. Through the models, we can estimate threshold temperatures of development and oviposition, and the optimal temperature range for population growth of A. eharai. Also, we can predict population phenology and dynamics of A. eharai in fields. Life table is also useful not only for evaluating life history characteristics of species but also for comparing population potential among species (Krebs, 2009). For insects and mites, a cohort life table is commonly employed (Jones and Parrella, 1984, Abou-Setta and Childers, 1987, Lee and Ahn, 2000, Tsai and Wang, 2001, Farhadi et al., 2011, Huang and Chi, 2012).

Thus, in this study, we conducted development and fecundity experiments at different temperatures using Tetranychus urticae (Koch) (Acari: Tetranychidae) as a prey to develop temperature-dependent development and oviposition models and estimate life history characteristics of A. eharai.

Section snippets

Mite culture

A. eharai individuals were collected from overwintering grapevine buds in rain-shield vineyards in Hwaseong-si, Korea in 2015. Rearing was started with 150 individuals of female A. eharai. To maintain vitality of A. eharai in the colony, 30–50 individuals of wild A. eharai were collected at the same vineyards in Hwaseong-si and supplied to the colony at interval of 3 to 4 months. A. eharai individuals were reared in petri dishes (100 mm in diameter, 42 mm in height, SPL Life Science,

Fpx=1-exp[-(px/α)β]

where F(px) was the cumulative proportion of development completion at a physiological time px. α and β were parameters.

Physiological time px of each stage was calculated with the rate summation method:px=i=1nr(Ti)where r(Ti) was the development rate at temperature T (°C) of ith day for a particular stage.

Development model

Development of A. eharai was significantly different according to temperature (Egg, F9, 521 = 960.7, P < 0.0001; Larva, F9, 472 = 96.5, P < 0.0001; Protonymph, F9, 445 = 52.2, P < 0.0001; Deutonymph, F9, 428 = 89.4, P < 0.0001; Total immature, F9, 428 = 387.0, P < 0.0001). A. eharai successfully developed from eggs to adults at 18.0–33.2 °C (Table 1). Survival rates of immature stages of A. eharai are presented in Table 2. No eggs survived at 35.9 °C. All eggs survived at 20.1 and 24.0 °C. Low

Discussion

Amblyseius eharai is one of staple natural enemies in orchards in Korea (Ryu et al., 1997, Ryu et al., 2001, Kim et al., 2003, Lee et al., 2016). Thus, ecological study of A. eharai would be valuable for establishing a biological control program. In the present study, A. eharai showed interesting biological traits at different temperatures. A. eharai was vulnerable to higher temperatures (>30.2 °C) with a lower survivorship of immatures. In general, the fecundity of A. eharai was higher at

Acknowledgement

This work was carried out with the support of Brain Korea 21 Plus project, Ministry of Education, Republic of Korea.

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