Experimental and Theoretical Analysis of the Regulation of Redscale by the Parasitoid Aphytis

研究人员建议继续对柑橘害虫红鳞虫和葡萄球菌之间的相互作用进行实验和理论研究。葡萄球菌是一种寄生虫，已在世界许多地区引入并使红鳞虫在经济上得到满意的控制。红鳞虱的数量丰度不仅保持在远低于有害生物的水平，而且数量也非常稳定。提出的研究的中心假设是，寄生虫通过葡萄球菌个体在遇到蚧虫时表现出的灵活反应来达到这些目的。这些个体的反应反过来又导致了规模和寄生虫种群的变化，从而导致了寄生虫造成的未来死亡率的变化。本研究旨在：分析决定这些决定的因素，通过将描述纳入数学模型来确定它们对种群动态的影响，并通过实地实验来验证模型是否正确地描述了潜在的过程。这项研究应该对野外种群受到调节的过程，特别是对个体寄生虫行为在实现这一目标中的作用，产生很少获得的见解。它将为寄主-寄主和捕食者-猎物动力学的一般理论提供补充，这些动力学在一年中或多或少是连续的，并且有重叠的世代。最特别的是，它代表了对该领域特定系统的潜在种群动态机制的详细假设进行测试的少数尝试之一。这项研究还将为未来解决害虫问题提供有用的见解。

The investigators propose to continue an experimental and theoretical study of the interaction between redscale, an insect pest of citrus, and Aphytis, an insect parasite that has been introduced and keeps redscale under economically satisfactory control in many areas in the world. The population abundance of redscale is not only kept far below the levels at which it is a pest, the populations are also remarkably stable. The central hypothesis of the proposed research is that the parasite achieves these ends through the flexible responses exhibited by Aphytis individuals as they encounter scale insects. These individual responses, in turn, lead to changes in the scale and parasite populations, and hence in the future death rate imposed by the parasite. This study is aimed at: analyzing the factors that determine these decisions, determining their consequences for population dynamics by incorporating the description into mathematical models, and testing by field experiment whether the models in fact have correctly described the underlying processes. %%% This research should produce rarely-obtained insight into the processes by which field populations are regulated, and especially into the role of individual parasite behavior in achieving this end. It will add to a general theory of parasite-host and predator-prey dynamics for systems in which the dynamics are more or less continuous throughout the year and there are overlapping generations. Most particularly, it represents one of the few attempts to test detailed hypotheses about the mechanisms underlying population dynamics of a particular system in the field. The research should also provide insight that will be useful in solving insect pest problems in the future.