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Student 10-Minute Presentation

Systematics, Evolution, and Biodiversity

Student

Student Competition

Grad 10-min Competition: SysEB, Ecology

Host location strategy shapes the host range a biological control agent of the avian vampire fly

Monday, November 11, 2024
10:54 AM – 11:06 AM MST
Location: Phoenix Convention Center, 226 A, PCC
Oral Presentation Student Competition
In the Galapagos Islands, Darwin’s finches are experiencing drastic population declines due in large part to the invasion of a bird parasite, Philornis downsi (Diptera:Muscidae), commonly called the avian vampire fly (AVF). Biological control is considered to be the best long-term solution to control this fly’s populations and at least five species of parasitoid wasps attack AVF in its native range of mainland Ecuador. Our research focuses on the most abundant of these wasps, Trichopria sp. (Hymenoptera: Diapriidae), a gregarious pupal parasitoid. Trichopria sp. demonstrates high specificity to AVF in field collections but we have found that it is able to attack a broader range of species when they are presented in a small arena in the laboratory. To explain this difference between field and laboratory data, we hypothesized that Trichopria sp. is a habitat specialist that utilizes the olfactory cues associated with nests to find its hosts. To test this hypothesis, we used a Y-tube olfactometer to evaluate the attraction of Trichopria sp. to nests and nest entities, and also presented hosts to Trichopria sp. in a larger laboratory arena than previously used with and without nests present. The results show that Trichopria  sp. is indeed significantly attracted to nests and that the emergence rate of Trichopria sp. from hosts in a large arena is significantly higher when nests are present. This supports our hypothesis that Trichopria sp. is a habitat specialist and provides an explanation for the mismatch between field and lab data on Trichopria sp. host specificity.