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The impact of adult diet on parasitoid reproductive performance

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Abstract

Diet is one of the most common influences on parasitoid reproductive traits. The life span, mating ability, fecundity, fertility and sex ratio of parasitoids can be affected by the quality of the adult diet. In the field, parasitoids can rely on different hosts and non-host nutrient sources, such as floral and extrafloral nectar, hemipteran honeydew and pollen, and various artificial diets have been used in mass rearing. In addition, some parasitoid species obtain nutrients by feeding on their host while adult (host feeding). In this review, we summarize current knowledge on the impact of the adult diet on the reproductive behavior of hymenopteran and dipteran parasitoids, with a particular focus on longevity, offspring production and host searching traits. First, we focus on food preferences and learning abilities of parasitoids to discriminate high-quality diets. Second, we analyze the impact of the adult diet on longevity, examining different natural and artificial food sources as well as the effect of their concentration and frequency. Third, we highlight the impact of the adult diet on host foraging. Fourth, we review the impact of adult diet on parasitoid offspring with special reference to (1) egg load, maturation and resorption, (2) parasitism and (3) progeny production and sex ratio. Finally, a number of implications for biological control and integrated pest management are discussed.

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Funding

G. Benelli is sponsored by PROAPI (PRAF 2015) “Valutazione della qualità organolettica del polline d’api fresco sottoposto a differenti trattamenti di condizionamento” and University of Pisa, Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment (Grant ID: COFIN2015_22). G. Giunti is funded by AGRIFOODTECH PON03 PE_00090_2 “Modelli sostenibili e nuove tecnologie per la valorizzazione delle olive e del1’olio extravergine di oliva prodotto in Calabria” (Grant ID: 14/2016/Agraria). A. Tena is partially supported by an INIA project (Grant ID: RTA2014-00067) and the Conselleria d’Agricultura, Pesca i Alimentació de la Generalitat Valenciana. N. Desneux was supported by the FP7-PEOPLE-2013-IRSES program (project APHIWEB, Grant no. 611810). Funders had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript.

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    1. Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Pisa, Via del Borghetto 80, 56124, Pisa, Italy

      Giovanni Benelli, Alice Caselli & Angelo Canale

    2. Department of Agriculture, University “Mediterranea” of Reggio Calabria, Loc. Feo di Vito, 89122, Reggio Calabria, Italy

      Giulia Giunti

    3. Unidad Asociada de Entomología UJI–IVIA, Centro de Protección Vegetal y Biotecnología, Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Agrarias (IVIA), Valencia, Spain

      Alejandro Tena

    4. INRA (French National Institute for Agricultural Research), Univ. Nice Sophia Antipolis, CNRS, UMR 1355-7254, Institut Sophia Agrobiotech, 06903, Sophia Antipolis, France

      Nicolas Desneux

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    Giovanni Benelli and Giulia Giunti have contributed equally to this manuscript.

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    Benelli, G., Giunti, G., Tena, A. et al. The impact of adult diet on parasitoid reproductive performance. J Pest Sci 90, 807–823 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10340-017-0835-2

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