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The effect of larval and early adult experience on behavioural plasticity of the aphid parasitoid Aphidius ervi (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Aphidiinae)

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Abstract

The relevance of the integration of preimaginal and eclosion experiences on the subsequent habitat preferences and mate finding by the adult has been rarely tested in holometabolous insects. In this work, the effect of larval and early adult experiences on the behavioural responses of adult males of the aphid parasitoid, Aphidius ervi, towards volatiles from the host–plant complex (HPC) and from conspecific females were evaluated. Two experience factors were considered: host diet (normal diet=ND; artificial diet=AD), and eclosion, i.e. extraction or non-extraction of the parasitoid larva from the parasitised aphid (extracted=EX; non-extracted=NE). Thus, four treatments were set up: ND/NE, ND/EX, AD/NE and AD/EX. Glass Y-tube olfactometers were used to investigate the responses of adult A. ervi males to the odour sources used. Males from the ND/NE treatment showed a shorter latency to the first choice of olfactometer arms, displayed a marked preference towards the HPC olfactometer arm, and spent more time in the HPC arm than males from the other treatments. Only the interaction of host diet and eclosion experiences proved to be relevant in explaining the differences in latency to first choice, time spent in olfactometers arms, and behaviours displayed in the olfactometer arms. These results show the importance of the integration of larval and eclosion experiences in the development of stereotyped responses of the adults. This process may involve memory retention from the preimaginal and emergence period, but further research is needed to disentangle the contribution of each stage. The response to conspecific females was much less affected by the treatments in relation to first arm choice and times in olfactometer arms, suggesting a pheromone-mediated behaviour, even though a prompter and more intense wing fanning courtship behaviour was registered in the ND/NE males compared to males from the AD/NE treatment. These results show that sexual behaviours are less affected by early experiences than behaviours related with finding a HPC for foraging or oviposition. Taken together, our results demonstrate for first time that larval and eclosion experiences affect in a differential way the early responses of the adult towards environment-derived cues and mate related cues.

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Acknowledgements

This study received financial support from CONICYT, Universidad de Chile, and MECESUP. CAV is grateful to CONICYT for a doctoral fellowship and a research grant (AT-4040221), to Universidad de Chile for thesis financial support (No. 31-2004), and to MECESUP for a travel grant to visit the Dipartimento di Biologia, Università della Basilicata at Potenza, where the experiments described were started. CAV is also indebted to people at the laboratory in Potenza and at the Laboratorio de Química Ecológica at Universidad de Chile, to the Decenio Evolutionary Biology Discussion Group, and to Macarena Faunes for valuable suggestions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Ciencias Ecológicas, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Chile, Casilla 653, Santiago, Chile

    Cristian A. Villagra & Hermann M. Niemeyer

  2. Dipartimento di Entomologia e Zoologia Agraria “Filippo Silvestri”, Università di Napoli “Federico II”, Naples, Italy

    Francesco Pennacchio

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  1. Cristian A. Villagra
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  2. Francesco Pennacchio
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  3. Hermann M. Niemeyer
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Correspondence to Cristian A. Villagra.

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Villagra, C.A., Pennacchio, F. & Niemeyer, H.M. The effect of larval and early adult experience on behavioural plasticity of the aphid parasitoid Aphidius ervi (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Aphidiinae). Naturwissenschaften 94, 903–910 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-007-0269-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-007-0269-4

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