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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Tifton, Georgia » Crop Protection and Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #141799
Title: FOOD NEEDS OF ADULT PARASITOIDS: BEHAVIORAL ADAPTATIONS AND CONSEQUENCES

Author
item Olson, Dawn
item TAKASU, K - KYUSHU UNIV/JAPAN
item Lewis, Wallace

Submitted to: Plant-Provided Food Suplements in Plant-Carnivore Mutualism
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/5/2003
Publication Date: 6/27/2005
Citation: Olson, D.M., Takasu, K., Lewis, W.J. 2005. Food needs of adult parasitoids: behavioral adaptations and consequences. In: Wackers, F.L., Van Rijn, P.C.J., Bruin, J., editors. Plant-Provided Food for Carnivorous Insects. United Kingdom: University Press, Cambridge. p. 137-147.

Interpretive Summary: Foraging efficacy of parasitoids is dependent on a variety of interacting factors and among them, food resources are very important in shaping these interactions. Non-host food such as plant nectars and honeydew, and host materials are vital for survival and reproduction of parasitoids as well as a number of other important aspects of parasitoid biology. Parasitoids have morphological adaptations geared for their specific food and host resources and forage for food as well as hosts using multiple sensory and learning mechanisms to increase their foraging efficiency. Plants can contribute to improvement of parasitoid performance by providing cues to the presence of suitable food and hosts, although there is a potential for other plants to interfere with these signals. Herbivores as well as other species also exploid plant nectars and cues and have adaptations that help them gain resources and avoid predation. It is not clear what influence other species attracted will have on a parasitoid's ability to gain needed resources. Thus, foraging environments are composed of multiple interactions that can determine how much of a parasitoid's potential is expressed. A fuller understanding of these interactions are cruicial to managing effective biological control strategies as is discussed more fully in other chapters of this book.

Technical Abstract: Most parasitoids need both carbohydrates and hosts to maximize their reproductive potential. We reviewed the literature for potential interactions between food resource acquisition of adult parasitoids and determined that they are influenced mainly by morphological adaptations for feeding, the detectability of cues that aid in food and host location, the quality and quantity of available resources, the extent that they learn to locate food resources more efficiently, and potential trade-offs between their physiological state relative to food and host distribution in time and space. We also discuss the need to understand the specific parasitoids resource needs and the multitrophic interactions that can affect preditions of food and host foraging behavior for biological control purposes.