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Drosophila suzukii flight performance reduced by starvation but not affected by humidity

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Abstract

Drosophila suzukii is widely studied because of its status as a global pest of berries and soft fruits. Environmental conditions and access to food resources impact the physiology and fitness of D. suzukii; these factors could also affect dispersal. Flight mills are a convenient tool for measuring and comparing the flight performance of insects. In this study, two experiments examined the effects of diet and humidity on D. suzukii flight performance using custom-built flight mills, and a third experiment compared the energy reserves of D. suzukii flown or not flown on flight mills. Over all flight assays, the median flight distance and duration were 27.16 m and 2.37 min, respectively, and the mean flight velocity was 0.18 m/s. The maximum flight distance and duration by an individual were 1.75 km and 2.35 h, respectively. Drosophila suzukii provisioned with blossoms, fruits, or standard laboratory diets flew farther distances and longer durations than starved flies. While starvation was associated with reduced flight performance, there were no observed differences between diet types. It remains unclear whether D. suzukii consistently use lipids, glycogen, sugar, or another energy source for flight because tethered individuals may not have flown enough to deplete energy reserves. Humidity did not affect flight performance of D. suzukii within a ~ 2 h test period. These data indicate that most D. suzukii are likely to remain within limited area (e.g., within a field) but that some individuals can disperse long distances (field to field spread).

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Acknowledgements

We thank Noel Hahn and Bruce Lightle for advice on flight mills and Danny Dalton for advice on humidity chambers. We thank Elio Caceres Herrera for designing and making the flight mill control board. We thank Alex Weissman for building the humidity tents and Caelin Alba, Colleen Corrigan, Kelly Donahue, Lauren Komenus, Eric McDougal, and Anne Snell for maintaining the fly colony. We thank Hanna McIntosh for comments on the manuscript.

Funding

Funding was provided by the Agricultural Research Foundation, and base funds USDA 2072-22000-040-00D, USDA 5358-22000-039-00D.

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Author notes

  1. Danielle M. Lightle

    Present address: University of California Cooperative Extension, P.O. Box 697, Orland, CA, 95963, USA

  2. J. Megan Woltz

    Present address: Lindenwood University, 209 S Kingshighway, St. Charles, MO, 63301, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Horticulture, Oregon State University, 4017 Agriculture and Life Sciences Building, Corvallis, OR, 97331, USA

    Jessica S. Wong & Nik G. Wiman

  2. USDA-ARS Horticultural Crops Research Unit, 3420 NW Orchard Ave., Corvallis, OR, 97330, USA

    Jessica S. Wong, Adam C. Cave, Danielle M. Lightle, Walter F. Mahaffee, J. Megan Woltz & Jana C. Lee

  3. USDA-ARS Arid-Land Agricultural Research Center, 21881 North Cardon Lane, Maricopa, AZ, 85138, USA

    Steve E. Naranjo

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Correspondence to Jessica S. Wong.

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The use of trade, firm, or corporation names in this publication is for the information and convenience of the reader. Such use does not constitute an official endorsement or approval by the United States Department of Agriculture or the Agricultural Research Service of any product or service to the exclusion of others that may be suitable. All authors, JSW, ACC, DML, WFM, SEN, NGW, JMW, and JCL, declare no conflict of interest.

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Communicated by A. Biondi.

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Wong, J.S., Cave, A.C., Lightle, D.M. et al. Drosophila suzukii flight performance reduced by starvation but not affected by humidity. J Pest Sci 91, 1269–1278 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10340-018-1013-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10340-018-1013-x

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