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Effectiveness of ladybirds as biological control agents: Patterns and processes

Efficacité des coccinelles comme agents de lutte biologique

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Abstract

Aphidophagous species of ladybirds have generally proved ineffective biocontrol agents, whereas many coccidophagous species have proved very effective, especiallyRodolia cardinalis (Caltagirone & Doutt, 1989). Two hypotheses have been proposed to account for this pattern: the optimum food utilization/satiation hypothesis (Mills, 1982) and the generation time ratio hypothesis (Kindlmann & Dixon, 1996). In this paper the extensive literature on ladybirds is used to test these hypotheses.

Résumé

Chez les coccinelles, les espèces aphidiphages se sont montrées généralement peu efficaces comme agents de lutte biologique, à l’inverse de nombreuses espèces coccidiphages qui se sont révélées très efficaces, telleRodolia cardinalis (Caltagirone & Doutt, 1989). Deux hypothèses ont été proposées pour expliquer ce phénomène : l’hypothèse de l’utilisation optimale de la proie/ satiété (Mills, 1982) et l’hypothèse du rapport des durées de développement des générations (Kindlmann & Dixon, 1996). Dans cette étude, la vaste littérature existant sur les coccinelles est utilisée pour tester ces hypothèses.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, NR4 7TJ, Norwich, UK

    A. F. G. Dixon

  2. Faculté des Sciences Agronomiques de la Communauté Française, 2 Passage des Déportés, 5030, Gembloux, Belgium

    J. -L. Hemptinne

  3. Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of South Bohemia and Institute of Entomology, Czech Academy of Sciences, Branisovská 31, 37005, Ceské Budejovice, Czech Republic

    P. Kindlmann

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  2. J. -L. Hemptinne
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  3. P. Kindlmann
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Dixon, A.F.G., Hemptinne, J.L. & Kindlmann, P. Effectiveness of ladybirds as biological control agents: Patterns and processes. BioControl 42, 71–83 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02769882

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