Is the response of aphids to alarm pheromone stable?

Thomas Thieme, A. F G Dixon

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

7 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Aphid taxa are characterized by a number of biological features, such as their feeding behaviour and host selection, which it is generally accepted are affected by keeping them for several generations under standard conditions in a laboratory. Analyses of three strains of the green pea aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisum (Harris, 1776), reared in culture for long periods, indicate that other characters are also affected. For example, the response of these aphids to alarm pheromone is dramatically reduced. This raises an interesting question regarding the mechanism by which it occurs and has consequences when aphids from laboratory cultures are used for studies in ecology and applied biology and especially the long-term effectiveness of crop plants genetically engineered to produce EBF as a means of controlling aphids.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)741-746
Number of pages6
JournalJournal of Applied Entomology
Volume139
Issue number10
Early online date20 Aug 2015
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Dec 2015

Keywords

  • (E)-β-farnesene
  • Dropping response
  • Habituation
  • Leguminosae
  • Pea aphid

Cite this