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Identification and Optimization of Microbial Attractants for Philornis downsi, an Invasive Fly Parasitic on Galapagos Birds

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Abstract

We investigated the role of olfactory cues from actively fermenting yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) in attraction of adult Philornis downsi and identified two synergistically attractive yeast volatiles. Larvae of this invasive fly parasitize the hatchlings of passerines and threaten the Galapagos avifauna. Gas chromatography coupled with electroantennographic detection (GC-EAD), coupled gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), and field trapping experiments were used to identify volatile compounds from a yeast-sugar solution. EAD responses were consistently elicited by 14 yeast volatiles. In a series of field trapping experiments, a mixture of the 14 EAD-active compounds was similarly attractive to P. downsi when compared to the yeast-sugar solution, and we found that acetic acid and ethanol were essential for attraction. A mixture of 0.03 % acetic acid and 3 % ethanol was as attractive as the 14-component blend, but was not as attractive as the yeast-sugar solution. Philornis downsi showed positive and negative dose-responses to acetic acid in the ranges of 0.01 ~ 0.3 % and 0.3 ~ 9 %, respectively. Further optimization showed that the mixture of 1 % acetic acid and 3 % ethanol was as attractive as the yeast-sugar solution. Both mixtures of acetic acid and ethanol were more selective than the yeast-sugar solution in terms of non-target moths and Polistes versicolor wasps captured. These results indicate that acetic acid and ethanol produced by yeasts are crucial for P. downsi attraction to fermented materials on which they feed as adults and can be used to manage this invasive fly in Galapagos.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Patricio Macas, Celina Leuba, Wilson Iñiguez, Landry Vasquez, and Courtney Pike for assistance in the field, Elizabeth Semler for maintaining live P. downsi in the laboratory, also James Gibbs, Stephen Blake, Charlie Blake, and George Heimpel for hand carrying P. downsi to the U.S. Permission to conduct this study was granted by the Galapagos National Park Directorate (Project: PC-10-15 & 18-16: Control of the Invasive Parasite, Philornis downsi and its Impact on Biodiversity). Permits to import P. downsi to the U.S. for laboratory work were granted by USDA-APHIS. This work was supported by funding from the Galapagos Conservancy and the International Community Foundation (with a grant awarded by The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust) to the Charles Darwin Foundation and to the State University of New York, College of Environmental Science and Forestry. We thank two anonymous referees for critical comments on an earlier version of the manuscript. This is contribution number 2142 of the Charles Darwin Foundation for the Galapagos Islands.

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  1. Dong H. Cha

    Present address: USDA-ARS, US Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Laboratory, 64 Nowelo St., Hilo, HI, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Environmental Science and Forestry, State University of New York, Syracuse, NY, USA

    Dong H. Cha, Alejandro E. Mieles & Stephen A. Teale

  2. Charles Darwin Foundation for the Galapagos Islands, Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz Island, Galapagos Islands, Ecuador

    Paola F. Lahuatte, Andrea Cahuana, Marie Piedad Lincango & Charlotte E. Causton

  3. Facultad de Ciencias Agrícolas, Universidad Central del Ecuador, Quito, Ecuador

    Marie Piedad Lincango

  4. Department of Behavioural Biology, University of Vienna, 1090, Vienna, Austria

    Sabine Tebbich & Arno Cimadom

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  1. Dong H. Cha
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Correspondence to Stephen A. Teale.

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Cha, D.H., Mieles, A.E., Lahuatte, P.F. et al. Identification and Optimization of Microbial Attractants for Philornis downsi, an Invasive Fly Parasitic on Galapagos Birds. J Chem Ecol 42, 1101–1111 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-016-0780-1

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