Hidden Taxonomic Diversity in European Chrysoperla Green Lacewings

欧洲金蛉隐藏的分类多样性

• 批准号: 9220579
• 负责人: Charles Henry
• 金额: $ 7万
• 依托单位: University of Connecticut
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1993
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1993-05-01 至 1997-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9220579&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Hidden; Taxonomic; Diversity; European; Chrysoperla

Green lacewings are beneficial predatory insects that eat aphids, scales, and other serious pests of crop plants. They are often raised artificially for mass release in agricultural areas where they can serve as important agents of biological control. Henry et. al. have found that several distinct North American species of green lacewings exist which can be told apart only by their unique courtship songs. Similar-looking lacewings are found in Europe, but these have songs that differ greatly from North American ones and vary from region to region. In the past, all of these European and North American lacewings have been thought of interchangeably as a single species, Chrysoperla carnea, and have been freely exported and imported across the Atlantic for biological control purposes. However, since different species can show strong prey preferences and other individualistic behaviors, it is feasible that some mass reared and released green lacewings might be relatively ineffective against certain targeted pest species. Efforts at biological control should be enhanced by recognizing the hidden biodiversity within this lacewing species complex and beginning to use the most appropriate "song species" in each continent, area or habitat. %%% This project will investigate the hidden species diversity in European green lacewings using song analysis, just as has been done for the North American ones. Thus, the investigators will determine how many true species exist in this economically important insect group and which are appropriate for use in biological pest control programs in different areas of the world. Perhaps, even more importantly, this project will serve as a model of the importance of song or other behavioral traits in investigating biodiversity in insects and other groups of organisms.

绿皮草是一种有益的捕食性昆虫，它以蚜虫、鳞片和其他严重的农作物害虫为食。它们经常被人工饲养，以便在农业区大规模释放，在那里它们可以作为重要的生物防治制剂。Henry et.艾尔发现北美存在几种截然不同的绿色草莓，只有通过它们独特的求爱歌声才能区分开来。在欧洲也发现了长相相似的草皮，但它们的歌声与北美的非常不同，而且不同地区的情况也不同。在过去，所有这些欧洲和北美的草鱼都被认为是一个单一的物种，可以互换，并以生物防治为目的在大西洋对岸自由出口和进口。然而，由于不同物种会表现出强烈的捕食偏好和其他个人主义行为，一些大量饲养和放生的绿色草鱼可能对某些目标害虫物种相对无效是可行的。应加强生物控制的努力，认识到这一草莓物种复合体中隐藏的生物多样性，并开始在每个大陆、地区或栖息地使用最合适的“歌鱼物种”。这个项目将像对北美绿叶草皮所做的那样，使用歌声分析来调查欧洲绿叶草皮中隐藏的物种多样性。因此，研究人员将确定在这个具有重要经济意义的昆虫群体中存在多少真正的物种，以及哪些物种适合用于世界不同地区的生物害虫控制计划。也许，更重要的是，这个项目将作为一个模型，说明歌声或其他行为特征在研究昆虫和其他生物群体的生物多样性方面的重要性。