Effect of Leaf Maturity on Host Habitat Location by the Egg-Larval Parasitoid Ascogaster reticulata

Journal of Chemical Ecology (2021)Cite this article

Abstract

Adoxophyes honmai, a serious pest of tea plants, prefers to lay eggs on mature tea leaves rather than young leaves. Here, we examined a hypothesis that Ascogaster reticulata, an egg-larval parasitoid of A. honmai, increases the likelihood of encountering host egg masses by searching mature tea leaves when host-derived cues are not available. In a dual-choice bioassay using a four-arm olfactometer, A. reticulata preferred odor from intact, mature leaves versus young leaves. Based on volatile analysis with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), we identified 5 and 10 compounds from mature and young leaf volatiles, respectively. The 5 components in the extract from intact mature leaves included (Z)-3-hexenyl acetate, (E)-β-ocimene, linalool, (E)-4,8-dimethyl-1,3,7-nonatriene (DMNT), and methyl salicylate. When each individual compound, or quaternary and quintenary blends of them, ratios of which were adjusted to match those of mature leaf volatiles, were provided, parasitoids preferred the full mixture and the quaternary blend devoid of DMNT to the solvent control. Methyl salicylate, one of the components of preferred blends, was not detected among young leaf volatiles. We concluded that the volatile composition of tea leaves changes, depending on their maturity, and that this composition affects foraging behavior of the parasitoid, which is closely related to the host herbivore’s oviposition preference.

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Data Availability

All data and materials from this study are available from the corresponding author upon request.

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Acknowledgements

We appreciate the helpful comments of Prof. DeMar Taylor and Assoc. Prof. Seiichi Furukawa on this study. We are grateful to Dr. Yukie Sato for her advice on statistical analysis.

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Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8572, Japan

    Suguru Komatsuzaki

  2. Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Kasetsart University, Phahonyothin Rd., Bangkok, 10900, Thailand

    Narisara Piyasaengthong

  3. Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8572, Japan

    Shigeru Matsuyama & Yooichi Kainoh

Authors
  1. Suguru Komatsuzaki
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  2. Narisara Piyasaengthong
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  3. Shigeru Matsuyama
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  4. Yooichi Kainoh
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Correspondence to Yooichi Kainoh.

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Software packages and codes used for statistical analyses in this study are available from the corresponding author.

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Komatsuzaki, S., Piyasaengthong, N., Matsuyama, S. et al. Effect of Leaf Maturity on Host Habitat Location by the Egg-Larval Parasitoid Ascogaster reticulata. J Chem Ecol (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-021-01250-5

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Keywords

  • Ascogaster reticulata
  • Adoxophyes honmai
  • Camellia sinensis
  • Host searching behavior
  • Plant volatiles
  • Plant maturity
  • Tritrophic interactions