Abstract
Biological control efforts against the shore fly Scatella tenuicosta Collin, a pest of commercial glasshouses, have had limited success. The ability of one of its parasitoids, Aphaereta debilitata Morley, to control shore fly populations was investigated on lettuce crops within six experimental glasshouse units, over 26 weeks. The six shore fly populations, either with or without a single release of 150 mixed-sexed parasitoids, were estimated by rearing from harvested pots each week. The presence of the parasitoid significantly reduced shore fly numbers from a mean of 30.3–13.2 adult flies emerging per pot. The level of damage to each lettuce was assessed using a scoring system (0–5: no damage to heavy damage, respectively). The introduction of parasitoids reduced the median damage score of the lettuces from 2 to 1 over the study, representing a considerable change in the marketability of the crop. This study shows that single inoculative releases of A. debilitata can quickly establish within a glasshouse and significantly reduce crop damage. This suggests that the parasitoid may represent a valuable addition to an IPM strategy for shore flies.
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Acknowledgments
Luke A. N. Tilley was supported by a Natural Environment Research Council studentship. We thank Andrew Ellis for his assistance in the glasshouse throughout and two anonymous reviewers for their help improving the manuscript.
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Handling Editor: Stefano Colazza.
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Tilley, L.A.N., Croft, P. & Mayhew, P.J. Testing a candidate parasitoid in the glasshouse: control efficacy of Aphaereta debilitata (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) against shore fly populations. BioControl 56, 851–860 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10526-011-9362-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10526-011-9362-x