Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-c4f8m Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T11:09:16.985Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Responses to colour and host odour cues in three cereal pest species, in the context of ecology and control

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 April 2015

S.E.J. Arnold*
Affiliation:
Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich, Chatham Maritime, Kent ME4 4TB, UK
P.C. Stevenson
Affiliation:
Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich, Chatham Maritime, Kent ME4 4TB, UK Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 3AB, UK
S.R. Belmain
Affiliation:
Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich, Chatham Maritime, Kent ME4 4TB, UK
*
*Author for correspondence Phone: +441634 883714 Fax: +441634 883998 E-mail: s.e.j.arnold@greenwich.ac.uk

Abstract

Many insects show a greater attraction to multimodal cues, e.g. odour and colour combined, than to either cue alone. Despite the potential to apply the knowledge to improve control strategies, studies of multiple stimuli have not been undertaken for stored product pest insects. We tested orientation towards a food odour (crushed white maize) in combination with a colour cue (coloured paper with different surface spectral reflectance properties) in three storage pest beetle species, using motion tracking to monitor their behaviour. While the maize weevil, Sitophilus zeamais (Motsch.), showed attraction to both odour and colour stimuli, particularly to both cues in combination, this was not observed in the bostrichid pests Rhyzopertha dominica (F.) (lesser grain borer) or Prostephanus truncatus (Horn) (larger grain borer). The yellow stimulus was particularly attractive to S. zeamais, and control experiments showed that this was neither a result of the insects moving towards darker-coloured areas of the arena, nor their being repelled by optical brighteners in white paper. Visual stimuli may play a role in location of host material by S. zeamais, and can be used to inform trap design for the control or monitoring of maize weevils. The lack of visual responses by the two grain borers is likely to relate to their different host-seeking behaviours and ecological background, which should be taken into account when devising control methods.

Type
Research Papers
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

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.)

References

Arnold, S.E.J., Stevenson, P.C. & Belmain, S.R. (2012) Odour-mediated orientation of beetles is influenced by age, sex and morph. PLoS ONE 7, e49071.Google Scholar
Barak, A.V. & Burkholder, W.E. (1985) A versatile and effective trap for detecting and monitoring stored-product Coleoptera. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 12, 207218.Google Scholar
Bashir, T., Birkinshaw, L.A., Hall, D.R. & Hodges, R.J. (2001) Host odours enhance the responses of adult Rhyzopertha dominica to male-produced aggregation pheromone. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata 101, 273280.Google Scholar
Briscoe, A.D. & Chittka, L. (2001) The evolution of color vision in insects. Annual Review of Entomology 46, 471510.Google Scholar
Campbell, J.F. (2012) Attraction of walking Tribolium castaneum adults to traps. Journal of Stored Products Research 51, 1122.Google Scholar
Chittka, L. & Kevan, P. (2005) Flower colour as advertisement. pp. 157196 in Dafni, A., Kevan, P.G. & Husband, B.C. (Eds) Practical Pollination Biology. Cambridge, ON, Enviroquest Ltd.Google Scholar
Chittka, L. & Raine, N.E. (2006) Recognition of flowers by pollinators. Current Opinion in Plant Biology 9, 428435.Google Scholar
Collins, L.E. & Chambers, J. (2003) The I-SPy Insect Indicator: an effective trap for the detection of insect pests in empty stores and on flat surfaces in the cereal and food trades. Journal of Stored Products Research 39, 277292.Google Scholar
Crombie, A. (1941) On oviposition, olfactory conditioning and host selection in Rhizopertha dominica Fab. (Insecta, Coleoptera). Journal of Experimental Biology 18, 6278.Google Scholar
Dobie, P., Haines, C.P., Hodges, R.J., Prevett, P.F. & Rees, D.P. (1991) Insects and Arachnids of Tropical Stored Products: their Biology and Identification. 2 edn. Natural Resources Institute, Chatham, UK.Google Scholar
Dowdy, A.K., Howard, R.W., Seitz, L.K. & McGaughey, W.H. (1993) Response of Rhyzopertha dominica (Coleoptera: Bostrichidae) to its aggregation pheromone and wheat volatiles. Environmental Entomology 22, 965970.Google Scholar
Dyer, A.G. & Chittka, L. (2004) Fine colour discrimination requires differential conditioning in bumblebees. Naturwissenschaften 91, 224227.Google Scholar
Döring, T.F. & Chittka, L. (2007) Visual ecology of aphids – a critical review on the role of colours in host finding. Arthropod–Plant Interactions 1, 316.Google Scholar
Döring, T.F. & Skorupski, P. (2007) Host and non-host leaves in the colour space of the Colorado potato beetle (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae). Entomologia Generalis 29, 8195.Google Scholar
Döring, T.F., Skellern, M., Watts, N. & Cook, S.M. (2012) Colour choice behaviour in the pollen beetle Meligethes aeneus (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae). Physiological Entomology 37, 360378.Google Scholar
Edde, P.A. & Phillips, T.W. (2006) Potential host affinities for the lesser grain borer, Rhyzopertha dominica: behavioral responses to host odors and pheromones and reproductive ability on non-grain hosts. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata 119, 255263.Google Scholar
Fadamiro, H.Y., Gudrups, I. & Hodges, R.J. (1998) Upwind flight of Prostephanus truncatus is mediated by aggregation pheromone but not food volatiles. Journal of Stored Products Research 34, 151158.Google Scholar
Green, C.H. (1986) Effects of colours and synthetic odours on the attraction of Glossina pallidipes and G. morsitans morsitans to traps and screens. Physiological Entomology 11, 411421.Google Scholar
Green, C.H. & Cosens, D. (1983) Spectral responses of the tsetse fly, Glossina morsitans morsitans . Journal of Insect Physiology 29, 795800.Google Scholar
Hodges, R.J., Addo, S., Farman, D.I. & Hall, D.R. (2004) Optimising pheromone lures and trapping methodology for Prostephanus truncatus (Horn) (Coleoptera: Bostrichidae). Journal of Stored Products Research 40, 439449.Google Scholar
Jayasekara, T.K., Stevenson, P.C., Hall, D.R. & Belmain, S.R. (2005) Effect of volatile constituents from Securidaca longepedunculata on insect pests of stored grain. Journal of Chemical Ecology 31, 303313.Google Scholar
Johnson, S.D. & Midgley, J.J. (2001) Pollination by monkey beetles (Scarabaeidae: Hopliini): do color and dark centers of flowers influence alighting behavior? Environmental Entomology 30, 861868.Google Scholar
Kennedy, J.S., Booth, C.O. & Kershaw, W.J.S. (1961) Host finding by aphids in the field. Annals of Applied Biology 49, 121.Google Scholar
Likhayo, P.W. & Hodges, R.J. (2000) Field monitoring Sitophilus zeamais and Sitophilus oryzae (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) using refuge and flight traps baited with synthetic pheromone and cracked wheat. Journal of Stored Products Research 36, 341353.Google Scholar
Lindh, J.M., Goswami, P., Blackburn, R.S., Arnold, S.E.J., Vale, G.A., Lehane, M.J. & Torr, S.J. (2012) Optimizing the colour and fabric of targets for the control of the tsetse fly Glossina fuscipes fuscipes . PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases 6, e1661.Google Scholar
Lunau, K. & Maier, E.J. (1995) Innate colour preferences of flower visitors. Journal of Comparative Physiology A: Neuroethology, Sensory, Neural, and Behavioral Physiology 177, 119.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martínez-Harms, J., Vorobyev, M., Schorn, J., Shmida, A., Keasar, T., Homberg, U., Schmeling, F. & Menzel, R. (2012) Evidence of red sensitive photoreceptors in Pygopleurus israelitus (Glaphyridae: Coleoptera) and its implications for beetle pollination in the southeast Mediterranean. Journal of Comparative Physiology A: Neuroethology, Sensory, Neural, and Behavioral Physiology 198, 451463.Google Scholar
Menzel, R., Steinmann, E., Desouza, J. & Backhaus, W. (1988) Spectral sensitivity of photoreceptors and color vision in the solitary bee, Osmia rufa . Journal of Experimental Biology 136, 3552.Google Scholar
Menzel, R., Ventura, D.F., Werner, A., Joaquim, L.C.M. & Backhaus, W. (1989) Spectral sensitivity of single photoreceptors and color vision in the stingless bee, Melipona quadrifasciata . Journal of Comparative Physiology A: Sensory Neural and Behavioral Physiology 166, 151164.Google Scholar
Morante, J. & Desplan, C. (2008) The color-vision circuit in the medulla of Drosophila . Current Biology 18, 553565.Google Scholar
Nguyen, D.T. (2008) Effects of starvation period on the locomotory response of Rhyzopertha dominica (F.). Journal of Stored Products Research 44, 100102.Google Scholar
Nguyen, D.T., Hodges, R.J. & Belmain, S.R. (2008) Do walking Rhyzopertha dominica (F.) locate cereal hosts by chance? Journal of Stored Products Research 44, 9099.Google Scholar
Noldus, L.P.J.J., Spink, A.J. & Tegelenbosch, R.A.J. (2001) EthoVision: a versatile video tracking system for automation of behavioral experiments. Behavior Research Methods Instruments and Computers 33, 398414.Google Scholar
Otálora-Luna, F. & Dickens, J.C. (2011) Spectral preference and temporal modulation of photic orientation by Colorado potato beetle on a servosphere. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata 138, 93103.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Raffa, K.F., Phillips, T.W. & Salom, S.M. (1993) Strategies and mechanisms of host colonization by bark beetles. pp. 103128 in Schowalter, T.O. & Filip, G. (Eds) Interactions Among Bark Beetles, Pathogens, and Conifers in North American Forests. New York, USA: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Reza, A.M.S. & Parween, S. (2006) Differential preference of colored surface in Tribolium castaneum (Herbst). Invertebrate Survival Journal 3, 8488.Google Scholar
Schlyter, F., Birgersson, G., Byers, J., Löfqvist, J. & Bergström, G. (1987) Field response of spruce bark beetle, Ips typographus, to aggregation pheromone candidates. Journal of Chemical Ecology 13, 701716.Google Scholar
Shires, S.W. & McCarthy, S. (1976) A character for sexing live adults of Prostephanus truncatus (Horn) (Bostrichidae, Coleoptera). Journal of Stored Products Research 12, 273275.Google Scholar
Torr, S.J., Mangwiro, T.N.C. & Hall, D.R. (2006) The effects of host physiology on the attraction of tsetse (Diptera: Glossinidae) and Stomoxys (Diptera: Muscidae) to cattle. Bulletin of Entomological Research 96, 7184.Google Scholar
Trematerra, P., Lupi, C. & Athanassiou, C. (2013) Does natal habitat preference modulate cereal kernel preferences in the rice weevil? Arthropod–Plant Interactions 7, 287297.Google Scholar
Ukeh, D.A. & Umoetok, S.B.A. (2007) Effects of host and non-hosts plant volatiles on the behaviour of the Lesser Grain Borer, Rhyzopertha dominica (Fab.). Journal of Entomology 4, 435443.Google Scholar
Ukeh, D.A., Udo, I.A. & Ogban, E.I. (2008) Trapping of stored-product insects using flight traps outside traditional African storage granaries. Journal of Food Agriculture and Environment 6, 399401.Google Scholar
Ukeh, D.A., Birkett, M.A., Bruce, T.J.A., Allan, E.J., Pickett, J.A. & Mordue, A.J. (2010) Behavioural responses of the maize weevil, Sitophilus zeamais, to host (stored-grain) and non-host plant volatiles. Pest Management Science 66, 4450.Google Scholar
Ukeh, D.A., Woodcock, C.M., Pickett, J.A. & Birkett, M.A. (2012) Identification of host kairomones from maize, Zea mays, for the maize weevil, Sitophilus zeamais . Journal of Chemical Ecology 38, 14021409.Google Scholar
Van Kleunen, M., Nänni, I., Donaldson, J.S. & Manning, J.C. (2007) The role of beetle marks and flower colour on visitation by monkey beetles (Hopliini) in the Greater Cape Floral Region, South Africa. Annals of Botany 100, 14831489.Google Scholar