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Q&A ViewAttendees 7

Plant-Insect Ecosystems

10-Minute Paper

P-IE: Biocontrol

Alternative outcomes in a trophic cascade: Acalymma vittatum, Cucumis sativus, and Celatoria setosa

Sunday, October 31, 2021
1:42 PM - 1:54 PM MT
Location: Colorado Convention Center, Meeting Room 108-110
In-Person
Trophic cascades have been a fundamental concept in ecology for well over fifty years and have provided applied entomologists a foundation for the use and release of beneficial organisms in agrosystems. Indeed, the application of these beneficials such as lady beetles, parasitoid wasps, predatory mites, or entomopathogenic nematodes all share a history of success in reducing pest populations. Recent studies even show that predator presence is a strong enough cue to reduce herbivore damage. However, there may be exceptions to this phenomenon in which the addition of a predator to a plant-herbivore system negatively affects a plant’s fitness rather than increasing it. Although rare, this scenario may occur among the striped cucumber beetle [Acalymma vittatum], its host plant family cucurbits [Cucurbitaceae], and a natural enemy, given their unique ecological relationship. Striped cucumber beetles are specialist feeders of cucurbits and are attracted to and sequester toxic secondary defense compounds [cucurbitacins] produced in cucurbit foliage and have shown to deter some predators. In this presentation, I showcase the results of a recent greenhouse experiment using striped cucumber beetles, a host plant [Cucumis sativus], and a natural enemy [Celatoria setosa] on alternative outcomes in a trophic cascade.