Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T17:34:42.825Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Seasonal dynamics of a population of the aphid Uroleucon rudbeckiae (Hemiptera: Aphididae): implications for population regulation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 December 2016

Robert J. Lamb*
Affiliation:
Department of Entomology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3T 2N2, Canada
Patricia A. MacKay
Affiliation:
Department of Entomology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3T 2N2, Canada
*
1Corresponding author (e-mail: [email protected]).

Abstract

Many aphid species (Hemiptera: Aphididae) that feed on herbaceous crops exhibit a rise and then sudden decline in abundance. Data from a nine-year study of Uroleucon rudbeckiae (Fitch) on Rudbeckia laciniata Linnaeus (Asteraceae) are used to investigate this pattern of seasonal abundance in a non-agricultural aphid. Aphids on a population of tagged and numbered flower stems were counted weekly. Abundance (mean aphids per stem) was partitioned into prevalence (proportion of stems colonised) and mean intensity (aphids per colonised stem), and also considered as the sum of the aphids in individual colonies. Abundance rose in mid-summer to late summer and then declined, peaking between the end of July and mid-September, earlier in years when the peak was higher. Prevalence showed a more uniform and consistent peak than mean intensity. Most of the 949 colonies were small and short-lived, but a small proportion were long-lived and reached 1000 aphids. Large colonies declined more slowly than moderately-sized colonies. Severe weather, shortening day-length, decline in host quality, density-dependent effects on rate of increase, and emigration failed to explain the population decline. An early rise and later decline in immigration, in conjunction with increasing predation through the summer, were consistent with the decline.

Type
Behaviour & Ecology
Copyright
© Entomological Society of Canada 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

Subject editor: Christopher Cutler

References

Alyokhin, A., Drummond, F.A., Sewell, G., and Storch, R.H. 2011. Differential effects of weather and natural enemies on coexisting aphid populations. Environmental Entomology, 40: 570580.Google Scholar
Boiteau, G. 1986. Native predators and the control of potato aphids. The Canadian Entomologist, 118: 11771183.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Costamagna, A.C. and Landis, D.A. 2006. Predators exert top-down control of soybean aphid across a gradient of agricultural management systems. Ecological Applications, 16: 16191628.Google Scholar
Costamagna, A.C., Landis, D.A., and Difonzo, C.D. 2007a. Suppression of soybean aphid by generalist predators results in a trophic cascade in soybeans. Ecological Applications, 17: 441451.Google Scholar
Costamagna, A.C., van der Werf, W., Bianchi, F.J.J.A., and Landis, D.A. 2007b. An exponential growth model with decreasing r captures bottom-up effects on the population growth of Aphis glycines Matsumura (Hemiptera: Aphididae). Agricultural and Forest Entomology, 9: 297305.Google Scholar
Dixon, A.F.G. 1998. Aphid ecology: an optimization approach, 2nd edition. Chapman & Hall, London, United Kingdom.Google Scholar
Fievet, V., Dedryver, C.-A., Plantegenest, M., Simon, J.-C., and Outreman, Y. 2007. Aphid colony turn-over influences the spatial distribution of the grain aphid Sitobion avenae over the wheat growing season. Agricultural and Forest Entomology, 9: 125134.Google Scholar
Gilbert, N. and Gutierrez, A.P. 1973. A plant-aphid-parasite relationship. Journal of Animal Ecology, 42: 323340.Google Scholar
Harrington, R. and Taylor, L.R. 1990. Migration for survival: fine-scale population redistribution in an aphid, Myzus persicae . Journal of Animal Ecology, 59: 11771193.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Honek, A. and Martinkova, Z. 2004. Host plant age and population development of a cereal aphid, Metopolophium dirhodum (Hemiptera: Aphididae). Bulletin of Entomological Research, 94: 1926.Google Scholar
Karley, A.J., Parker, W.E., Pitchford, J.W., and Douglas, A.E. 2004. The mid-season crash in aphid populations: why and how does it occur? Ecological Entomology, 29: 383388.Google Scholar
Lamb, R.J. and MacKay, P.A. 2010. Stability of natural populations of an aphid, Uroleucon rudbeckiae, at three spatial scales. The Canadian Entomologist, 142: 3651.Google Scholar
Lamb, R.J., MacKay, P.A., and Alyokhin, A. 2013. Seasonal dynamics of three coexisting aphid species: implications for estimating population variability. The Canadian Entomologist, 145: 283291.Google Scholar
Lamb, R.J., Wise, I.L., and MacKay, P.A. 1997. Photoperiodism and seasonal abundance of an aphid, Macrosiphum euphorbiae (Thomas), in oilseed flax. The Canadian Entomologist, 129: 10491058.Google Scholar
Latgé, J.P. and Papierok, B. 1988. Aphid pathogens. In Aphids, their biology, natural enemies and control. Volume 2B. Edited by W. Helle, A.K. Minks, and P. Harrewijn. Elsevier, New York, New York, United States of America. Pp. 323335.Google Scholar
Maiteki, G.A., Lamb, R.J., and Ali-Khan, S.T. 1986. Seasonal abundance of the pea aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisum (Homoptera: Aphididae), in Manitoba field peas. The Canadian Entomologist, 118: 601607.Google Scholar
Matis, J.H., Kiffe, T.R., van der Werf, W., Costamagna, A.C., Matis, T.I., and Grant, W.E. 2009. Population dynamics models based on cumulative density dependent feedback: a link to the logistic growth curve and a test for symmetry using aphid data. Ecological Modelling, 220: 17451751.Google Scholar
Müller, C.B., Williams, I.S., and Hardie, J. 2001. The role of nutrition, crowding and interspecific interactions in the development of winged aphids. Ecological Entomology, 26: 330340.Google Scholar
Rózsa, L., Reiczigel, J., and Majoros, G. 2000. Quantifying parasites in samples of hosts. Journal of Parasitology, 86: 963966.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
SYSTAT Software. 2009. SYSYAT 13, statistics I. SYSTAT Software Inc., Chicago, Illinois, United States of America.Google Scholar