Fungal Endosymbionts Of Plants Reduce Lifespan Of An Aphid Secondary Parasitoids And Influence Host Selection

Main Category: Biology / Biochemistry
Article Date: 06 Aug 2008 - 7:00 PDT

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Fungi living in between cells of plants produce toxins that protect plants from herbivores. However, herbivores are only at the base of food chains.

How far up food chains can the toxic effects reach, potentially shape ecological communities? We used a food chain consisting of an agricultural grass, aphids, primary and secondary parasitoids.

Effects of the fungal-produced toxins were far-reaching indeed, reducing the lifespan of secondary parasitoids. However, with increasing age and experience, parasitoids discriminated against these lower quality hosts.

Benefits for the plant ultimately depend on the relative sensitivity and discrimination ability of all food chain members to the fungus.

Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Proceedings B is the Royal Society's flagship biological research journal, dedicated to the rapid publication and broad dissemination of high-quality research papers, reviews and comment and reply papers. The scope of journal is diverse and is especially strong in organismal biology.

Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences