Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-4rdrl Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-03T16:37:45.308Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

STUDIES ON THE ARTHROPOD FAUNA OF ALFALFA: IV. SPECIES ASSOCIATED WITH THE CROWN1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2012

A. G. Wheeler Jr.
A. G. Wheeler Jr.
Affiliation:
Department of Entomology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The arthropod fauna associated with deteriorating crowns of alfalfa, Medicago sativa L., was studied at Ithaca, N.Y., during 1968–1969. Four decompositional stages of crowns were delimited, ranging from those of healthy, 1-year-old plants to those of dead plants. A total of 77 arthropod species, including 44 species of Diptera, were reared from the four stages of crowns. Information given for each species includes relative abundance, and associated stage of crown and number of crowns. Adults of several reared species had been collected from alfalfa foliage samples in previous years of study and were species for which the relationship to alfalfa had been obscure and which might in most insect–plant studies have been dismissed as being of chance occurrence or accidental on the plants. However, species breeding within the crowns contributed to the richness of the alfalfa fauna. Because species breeding within the microhabitat of decaying crowns were only rarely found to be associated with other morphological parts of the alfalfa plant, the crown community can be considered as a “centre of action” within the total alfalfa–arthropod community. The possible importance of considering species comprising the crown community in studies on communal stability is discussed.

None of the species of the crown community were shown to be definite primary invaders in crowns of healthy plants, although several reared species have been reported to damage living plant tissue. Many of the species probably were feeding on microorganisms and partitioning the available food resources by feeding preferentially on different classes of microorganisms. The majority of species should be classed as secondary invaders. While mechanical and winter injury probably were the main causes of initial damage to the crowns, feeding activities of the secondary-invading arthropods may have accelerated the process of crown deterioration and further opened tissues of the crown to penetration by pathogens.

Type
Articles
Information
The Canadian Entomologist , Volume 105 , Issue 3 , March 1973 , pp. 353 - 366
Copyright
Copyright © Entomological Society of Canada 1973

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

Balduf, W. V. 1959. Obligatory and facultative insects in rose hips. Illinois biol. Monogr. 26. 194 pp.Google Scholar
Baumberger, J. P. 1919. A nutritional study of insects, with special reference to microörganisms and their substrata. J. exp. Zool. 28: 1–81.Google Scholar
Benick, L. 1952. Pilzkäfer und Käferpilze. Ökologische und statistische Untersuchungen. Acta Zool. Fenn. 70: 1–250.Google Scholar
Blackman, M. W. and Stage, H. H.. 1924. On the succession of insects living in the bark and wood of dying, dead and decaying hickory. N.Y. St. Coll. Forestry, Syracuse, Tech. Publ. 17. 240 pp.Google Scholar
Bolton, J. L. 1962. Alfalfa; botany, cultivation, and utilization. Leonard Hill (Books), London. 474 pp.Google Scholar
Bornemissza, G. F. 1957. An analysis of arthropod succession in carrion and the effect of its decomposition on the soil fauna. Aust. J. Zool. 5: 1–12.Google Scholar
Brock, M. L., Wiegert, R. G., and Brock, T. D.. 1969. Feeding by Paracoenia and Ephydra (Diptera: Ephydridae) on the microorganisms of hot springs. Ecology 50: 192–200.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brues, C. T. 1946. Insect dietary. Harvard Univ. Press, Cambridge, Mass. 466 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bruner, L. and Swenk, M. H.. 1907. Some insects injurious to wheat during 1905–1906. Nebr. agric. Exp. Stn Bull. 96. 36 pp.Google Scholar
Burrill, A. C. 1918. New economic pests of red clover. J. econ. Ent. 11: 421–424.Google Scholar
Cameron, A. E. 1913. On the life-history of Lonchaea chorea, Fabricius. Trans. ent. Soc. Lond. 1913: 314–322.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chittenden, F. H. 1908. Insects injurious to the loco weeds. U.S. Dep. Agric. Bur. Ent. Bull. 64: 33–42.Google Scholar
Coburn, F. D. 1910. The book of alfalfa; history, cultivation and merits; its uses as a forage and fertilizer. Orange Judd, New York. 344 pp.Google Scholar
Coburn, F. D. 1911. Alfalfa, lucerne, Spanish trefoil, Chilian clover, Brazilian clover, French clover, medic, purple medic (Medicago sativa); practical information on its production, qualities, worth and uses, especially in the United States and Canada. Orange Judd, New York. 163 pp.Google Scholar
Cole, E. J. Jr., and Streams, F. A.. 1970. Insects emerging from brown slime fluxes in southern New England. Can. Ent. 102: 321–333.Google Scholar
Dickson, J. G. 1956. Diseases of field crops. McGraw-Hill, New York. 517 pp.Google Scholar
Eastin, W. C. and Foote, B. A.. 1971. Biology and immature stages of Dichaeta caudata (Diptera: Ephydridae). Ann. ent. Soc. Am. 64: 271–279.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elliott, E. S., Baldwin, R. E., and Carroll, R. B.. 1969. Root rots of alfalfa and red clover. W. Va Univ. agric. Exp. Stn Bull. 585 T. 32 pp.Google Scholar
Elton, C. S. and Miller, R. S.. 1954. The ecological survey of animal communities: with a practical system of classifying habitats by structural characters. J. Ecol. 42: 460–496.Google Scholar
Engelmann, M. D. 1961. The role of soil arthropods in the energetics of an old field community. Ecol. Monogr. 31: 221–238.Google Scholar
Fager, E. W. 1968. The communiiy of invertebrates in decaying oak wood. J. Anim. Ecol. 37: 121–142.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fenton, F. A. 1959. The effect of several insecticides on the total arthropod population in alfalfa. J. econ. Ent. 52: 428–432.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Folsom, J. W. 1909. The insect pests of clover and alfalfa. Univ. Illinois agric. Exp. Stn Bull. 134. pp. 113–197.Google Scholar
Frost, S. W. 1924. A study of the leaf-mining Diptera of North America. Cornell Univ. agric. Exp. Stn Mem. 78. 228 pp.Google Scholar
Godfrey, G. H. 1923. The eelworm disease: A menace to alfalfa in America. U.S. Dep. Agric. Circ. 297. 8 pp.Google Scholar
Graham, C. L. and McNeill, M. J.. 1972. Soybean crown and root damage by Bradysia coprophila. J. econ. Ent. 65: 597–599.Google Scholar
Graves, R. C. 1960. Ecological observations on the insects and other inhabitants of woody shelf fungi (Basidiomycetes: Polyporaceae) in the Chicago area. Ann. ent. Soc. Am. 53: 61–78.Google Scholar
Hill, W. S. 1925. The culture of lucerne. Whitcombe and Tombs, Auckland, N.Z. 268 pp.Google Scholar
Hungerford, H. B. 1916. Sciara maggots injurious to potted plants. J. econ. Ent. 9: 538–549.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Larkin, P. A. and Elbourne, C. A.. 1964. Some observations on the fauna of dead wood in live oak trees. Oikos 15: 79–92.Google Scholar
Laurence, B. R. 1954. The larval inhabitants of cow pats. J. Anim. Ecol. 23: 234–260.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Laurence, B. R. 1955. The ecology of some British Sphaeroceridae (Borboridae, Diptera). J. Anim. Ecol. 24: 187–199.Google Scholar
Leath, K. T., Lukezic, F. L., Crittenden, H. W., Elliott, E. S., Halisky, P. M., Howard, F. L., and Ostazeski, S. A.. 1971. The Fusarium root rot complex of selected forage legumes in the Northeast. Pa St. Univ. agric. Exp. Stn Bull. 777. 64 pp.Google Scholar
Leath, K. T. and Newton, R. C.. 1969. Interaction of a fungus gnat, Bradysia sp. (Sciaridae) with Fusarium spp. on alfalfa and red clover. Phytopathology 59: 257–258.Google Scholar
Mann, J. 1969. Cactus-feeding insects and mites. U.S. natn. Mus. Bull. 256. 158 pp.Google Scholar
Martin, J. L. 1966. The insect ecology of red pine plantations in central Ontario. IV. The crown fauna. Can. Ent. 98: 10–27.Google Scholar
Matthewman, W. G. and Pielou, D. P.. 1971. Arthropods inhabiting the sporophores of Fomes fomentarius (Polyporaceae) in Gatineau Park, Quebec. Can. Ent. 103: 775–847.Google Scholar
Mohr, C. O. 1943. Cattle droppings as ecological units. Ecol. Monogr. 13: 275–298.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Obrtel, R. 1970. Variation in abundance and dominance of insects inhabiting lucerne fields. Acta ent. bohemoslov. 67: 175–187.Google Scholar
O'Rourke, C. J. 1964. (unpub.). Fungi associated with root rot of alfalfa. Ph.D. Thesis, Cornell Univ., Ithaca, N.Y.Google Scholar
Park, O. and Auerbach, S.. 1954. Further study of the tree-hole complex with emphasis on quantitative aspects of the fauna. Ecology 35: 208–222.Google Scholar
Parker, J. R. 1918. The life history and habits of Chloropisca glabra Meig., a predaceous oscinid (chloropid). J. econ. Ent. 11: 368–380.Google Scholar
Payne, J. A. and Crossley, D. A. Jr., 1966. Animal species associated with pig carrion. Oak Ridge National Lab. ORNL-TM 1432. 70 pp.Google Scholar
Pechuman, L. L. 1937. An annotated list of insects found in the bark and wood of Ulmus americana L. in New York State. Bull. Brooklyn ent. Soc. 32: 8–31.Google Scholar
Pimentel, D. and Wheeler, A. G. Jr., 1973. Influence of alfalfa resistance on a pea aphid population and its associated parasites, predators, and competitors. Environ. Ent. 2: 1–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pimentel, D. and Wheeler, A. G. Jr., Species and diversity of arthropods in the alfalfa community. Environ. Ent. (in press).Google Scholar
Pottinger, R. P. and Macfarlane, R. P.. 1967. Insect pests and nematodes of lucerne, pp. 229–247. In Langer, R. H. M. (Ed.), The lucerne crop. A. H. and A. W. Reed, Wellington, N.Z. 314 pp.Google Scholar
Reed, H. B. Jr., 1958. A study of dog carcass communities in Tennessee, with special reference to the insects. Am. Midl. Nat. 59: 213–245.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robinson, I. 1953. On the fauna of a brown flux of an elm tree, Ulmus procera Salisb. J. Anim. Ecol. 22: 149–153.Google Scholar
Rockwood, L. P. 1951. Notes on insects associated with Lupinius polyphyllus Lindl. in the Pacific Northwest. Pan-Pacif. Ent. 27: 149–156.Google Scholar
Savely, H. E. Jr., 1939. Ecological relations of certain animals in dead pine and oak logs. Ecol. Monogr. 9: 321–385.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, R. F. and van den Bosch, R.. 1967. Integrated control, pp. 295–340. In Kilgore, W. W. and Doutt, R. L. (Eds.). Pest Control. Biological, physical, and selected chemical methods. Academic Press, New York. 477 pp.Google Scholar
Steiner, H. 1962. Bedeutung der indifferenten Arthropoden in Obstanlagen. Entomophaga 7: 263–267.Google Scholar
Stewart, G. 1926. Alfalfa-growing in the United States and Canada. Macmillan Co., New York. 517 pp.Google Scholar
Thorne, G. 1961. Principles of nematology. McGraw Hill, New York. 553 pp.Google Scholar
Tilden, J. W. 1951. The insect associates of Baccharis pilularis de Candolle. Micro-entomology 16: 149–188.Google Scholar
Wallace, H. R. 1953. The ecology of the insect fauna of pine stumps. J. Anim. Ecol. 22: 154–171.Google Scholar
Waloff, N. 1968. Studies on the insect fauna on scotch broom Sarothamnus scoparius (L.) Wimmer, pp. 87–208. In Cragg, J. B. (Ed.), Advances in ecological research. Vol. 5. Academic Press, New York. 283 pp.Google Scholar
Webster, F. M. 1903. Some insects attacking the stems of growing wheat, rye, barley, and oats, with methods of prevention and suppression. U.S. Dep. Agric. Bur. Ent. Bull. 42. 62 PP.Google Scholar
Wehrle, L. P. 1924. The clover-seed caterpillar (Laspeyresia interstinctana Clemens). N.Y. agric. Exp. Stn Bull. 428. 34 pp.Google Scholar
Winston, P. W. 1956. The acorn microsere, with special reference to arthropods. Ecology 37: 120–132.Google Scholar
Wolcott, G. N. 1921. The minor sugar-cane insects of Porto Rico. J. Dep. Agric. Porto Rico 5: 5–46.Google Scholar