Early-season predation on aphids by winter-active spiders in apple orchards revealed by diagnostic PCR

Boreau de Roincé, C., Lavigne, C., Mandrin, J.-F., Rollard, C. and Symondson, William Oliver Christian ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3343-4679 2013. Early-season predation on aphids by winter-active spiders in apple orchards revealed by diagnostic PCR. Bulletin of Entomological Research 103 (02) , pp. 148-154. 10.1017/S0007485312000636

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Abstract

Aphids are major pests in apple orchards, debilitating the crop and spreading disease. We investigated whether early-season predation by canopy spiders may be effectively controlling aphid numbers in three organic orchards. For this purpose, we monitored the aphid population dynamics from the winter eggs to colony stages and compared this to spider abundances and rates of predation on aphids detected by diagnostic polymerase chain reaction. For the latter, we applied existing general aphid primers. We found that spiders ate colony fundatrices and that aphid numbers were negatively related to spider abundance. Spiders were the main active predators within the orchards when the first colony fundatrices were present, indicating their importance in the early control of aphid populations.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Biosciences
Subjects:	Q Science > QH Natural history Q Science > QH Natural history > QH301 Biology
Additional Information:	Pdf uploaded in accordance with publisher's policy at http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo/issn/0007-4853/ (accessed 21/02/2014).
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
ISSN:	0007-4853
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	30 March 2016
Last Modified:	02 May 2023 23:16
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/49887

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