Synthetic pheromone from a generalist predator (Podisus maculiventris) elicits non-consumptive effects on prey and impacts yield of solanaceous crops in upstate New York
Monday, November 14, 2022
9:12 AM – 9:24 AM PT
Location: Vancouver Convention Centre, Meeting Room 217/218/219
Non-consumptive effects of predators on prey, which are the changes in prey phenotype in response to a perceived threat of predation, are wide-spread in agricultural systems and could also be an effective, and cheaper method of biocontrol. The Colorado potato beetle (CPB) is a world-wide pest that feeds primarily on Solanaceous plants. A generalist predator of CPB, the spined soldier bug (Podisus maculiventrisis) is an effective predator of CPB but insufficient numbers have prevented its use as an effective biocontrol agent. However, recent discoveries show that a synthetic version of the P. maculiventris male aggregation pheromone can induce non-consumptive effects, leading to a reduced presence of all life stages of CPB and a reduction in leaf damage. Here we ask whether aggregation pheromone dispensers impact yield of CPB host plants (potato and eggplant) in field settings on both research and an organic working farm. To answer these questions, we dispensed synthetic pheromone adjacent to plants in field grown potato and eggplant, and quantified CPB abundance and yield. We found that potatoes in plots with the synthetic pheromone dispensers had marginally higher potato yield than potatoes in the control plots. Additionally, eggplants in pheromone plots had fewer CPB than those in the control plots. This work provides the groundwork to establish the synthetic pheromone as a useful method in an applied organic system and provide insight into the usefulness of non-consumptive effects on prey behavior.