Effects of 3-Trophic Level Interactions on Sex Ratios of an Herbivore and Parasitoid

这个项目探索了十字花科植物之间复杂的相互作用，它们最重要的食草动物之一，小菜蛾，小菜蛾，和它的主要寄生蜂，Diadegma岛。小菜蛾是十字花科作物的一种主要的、世界性的害虫。本研究探讨了不同性别比例的拟寄生物及其草食性寄主在3营养级系统的种群调节和动态中的作用。研究了植物对植虫和拟寄生虫相互作用的直接和间接影响，并验证了蛾和黄蜂性别比例变化和植物偏好之间的相互作用为数代植虫种群的密度依赖调节提供了一种机制。该项目将提供植物对草食动物和综合动态模型影响的详细估计。这项工作与寄主-寄生虫动力学的稳定性问题和重要的经济系统的生物防治有关。

This project explores complex interactions between cruciferous plants, one of their most important herbivores, the diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella, and its major parasitoid, Diadegma insulare. The diamondback moth is a major, world-wide pest of crucifer crops. The work examines the role of variable sex ratios in parasitoids and their herbivorous hosts in population regulation and dynamics of 3-trophic level systems. It concentrates on direct and indirect effects of plants on interactions between herbivbores and parasitoids and tests the hypothesis that interactions between sex-ratio variation and plant preferences of the moths and wasps provide a mechanism for density-dependent regulation of herbivore populations over several generations. The project will provide detailed estimated of the effects of plants on both herbivore and comprehensive dynamic models. The work is relevant to questions of stability of parasitoid-host dynamics and to biological control in an economically important system.