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Video Q&A ViewAttendees 2

Plant-Insect Ecosystems

Section Symposium

IOBC-NRS Symposium: Diversity in Biocontrol: Scale, Systems, and Practitioners On-Demand Presentations

Hidden host mortality from Trissolcus japonicus: Conventional and molecular evaluation of non-target risk to native pentatomids

On-Demand
On-Demand

    Presenting Author(s)

  • James Hepler

    Postdoctoral Researcher
    United States Department of Agriculture
    Gerrardstown, West Virginia

    • Co-Author(s)

  • Kacie Jo Athey

    Assistant Professor
    University of Illinois
    Urbana, Illinois

  • DE

    David Enicks

    Washington State University
    Pullman, Washington

  • Paul K. Abram

    Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
    Agassiz, British Columbia, Canada

  • Tara D. Gariepy

    Research Scientist
    Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
    London, Ontario, Canada

  • ET

    Elijah Talamas

    Florida State Collection of Arthropods
    Gainesville, Florida

  • Elizabeth H. Beers

    Washington State University
    Wenatchee, Washington

Hidden trophic interactions are important in understanding food web ecology and evaluating the ecological risks and benefits associated with the introduction of exotic natural enemies in classical biological control programs. Although non-target risk is typically evaluated based on evidence of successful parasitism, parasitoid-induced host mortality not resulting in visible evidence of parasitism (i.e., nonreproductive effects) is easily overlooked. The adventive establishment of Trissolcus japonicus, an exotic parasitoid of the introduced stink bug Halyomorpha halys, provides an opportunity to investigate the total impact of this parasitoid on target and non-target hosts in the field. We applied a species-specific diagnostic PCR assay for T. japonicus to field-deployed eggs of four pentatomid species in combination with traditional rearing and morphological characterization to measure combined reproductive and nonreproductive effects in this system. Nonreproductive effects were responsible for substantial mortality in some of the non-target species (5.4–43.2%) and an additional 5.6% mortality of H. halys eggs. The observed hidden mortality of native non-target species from an introduced parasitoid could change predictions about direct and indirect ecological interactions and the efficacy of biological control of the target pest.