Benrey, Betty

2015-7-21, Moreira, Xoaquin, Abdala-Roberts, Luis, Hernandez-Cumplido, Johnattan, Rasmann, Sergio, Kenyon, Sarah G, Benrey, Betty

2004, Hansson, Christer, Aebi, Alexandre, Benrey, Betty

2001, Turlings, Ted, Benrey, Betty, Anaya, Ana Luisa, Espinosa-García, Francisco Javier, Cruz-Ortega, Rocío

2008, Aebi, Alexandre, Shani, Tal, Hansson, Christer, Contreras-Garduno, Jorge, Mansion, Guilhem, Benrey, Betty

2004, Aebi, Alexandre, Alvarez, Nadir, Butcher, R. D. J., Hansson, Christer, Risterucci, A. M., Benrey, Betty

1998, Turlings, Ted, Benrey, Betty

Parasitoids are insects that spend their immature stages feeding from the tissues of other arthropods, eventually killing them. Many insects that serve as hosts for parasitoids are herbivorous, and metabolites from plants on which they feed can influence both the location of hosts by adult parasitoids and the development of the immature stages. For example, adult female parasitoids, which have the formidable task of locating often scarce and well-hidden hosts, may make effective use of chemical signals that plants emit in response to herbivory. The signals are used to guide them to herbivores that are damaging the plants. Also, plant-produced toxins along with digestibility reducers may slow down herbivore development, prolonging the time that they are vulnerable to parasitoids. The influence of plant chemicals continues after a parasitoid egg has been deposited in or on a host. An immature parasitoid uses the host as its sole source of nutrients. As the diet of hosts, plants can affect their development and physiological condition and thus, the overall suitability and quality of hosts as resources for parasitoid larvae. Here we give an overview of what is known about these interactions between plants and parasitoids and speculate on the possibility that parasitoids and other natural enemies of herbivorous arthropods may have, to some extent, contributed to the evolutionary pressures from which plant chemical traits have evolved.

2005, Campan, E D M, Callejas, A, Rahier, Martine, Benrey, Betty

For parasitoids of herbivores, the two most important biotic factors that will influence their fitness are the host species that they attack and the plant species that the host feeds on. Variation in these two trophic levels because of different habitat characteristics may largely drive the evolution of the interaction between parasitoids and their hosts. Through transplant experiments with three plant-insect populations in Mexico, we examined the consequences of plant variation for the interaction between a bruchid beetle, Zabrotes subfasciatus (Boheman) (Coleoptera: Bruchidae), that feeds on bean seeds of the genus Phaseolus L. (Leguminosae: Phaseolinae) and one of its main parasitoids, Stenocorse bruchivora (Crawford) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae). Results revealed great variation in performance among parasitoid populations. Both the population of origin of the parasitoid and of the host plant influenced the performance of developing parasitoids as well as adult oviposition behavior. Wasps from the Atila population were more likely to parasitize the herbivore and developed faster than wasps from the other two populations, Malinalco and Tepoztlan. The results call be explained in part by the spatial distribution of the host plant, host availability, and seed quality in this population. Variation in performance among parasitoid populations decreased when wasps were exposed to their host in cultivated seeds. This could be caused by the better and less variable quality of this novel resource, and consequently, of the bruchid host. The results from this study indicate that both host plant quality and genetic variation among populations are crucial factors in determining the nature and evolution of the interaction between parasitoids and their herbivorous hosts.

2003, Alvarez, Nadir, Aebi, Alexandre, Risterucci, A. M., Hossaert-Mckey, Martine, Benrey, Betty