Journal article
Bacteria and Competing Herbivores Weaken Top–Down and Bottom–Up Aphid Suppression
Frontiers in plant science, Vol.9, pp.1239-1239
09/03/2018
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/112980
PMID: 30233608
Abstract
Herbivore suppression is mediated by both plant defenses and predators. In turn, plant defenses are impacted by soil fertility and interactions with soil bacteria. Measuring the relative importance of nutritional and microbial drivers of herbivore resistance has proven problematic, in part because it is difficult to manipulate soil-bacterial community composition. Here, we exploit variation in soil fertility and microbial biodiversity across 20 farms to untangle suppression of aphids (
Brevicoryne brassicae
) through bottom–up and top–down channels. We planted
Brassica oleracea
plants in soil from each farm, manipulated single and dual infestations of aphids alone or with caterpillars (
Pieris rapae
), and exposed aphids to parasitoid wasps (
Diaeretiella rapae
) in the open field. We then used multi-model inference to identify the strongest soil-based predictors of herbivore growth and parasitism. We found that densities of
Bacillus
spp., a genus known to include plant-growth-promoting rhizobacteria, negatively correlated with aphid suppression by specialist parasitoids. Aphid parasitism also was disrupted on plants that had caterpillar damage, compared to plants attacked only by aphids. Relative abundance of
Pseudomonas
spp. bacteria correlated with higher aphid growth, although this appeared to be a direct effect, as aphid parasitism was not associated with this group of bacteria. Non-pathogenic soil bacteria are often shown to deliver benefits to plants, improving plant nutrition and the deployment of anti-herbivore defenses. However, our results suggest that these plant growth-promoting bacteria may also indirectly weaken top–down aphid suppression by parasitoids and directly improve aphid performance. Against a background of varying soil fertility, microbial biodiversity, competing herbivores, and natural enemies, we found that effects of non-pathogenic soil microbes on aphid growth outweighed those of nutritional factors. Therefore, predictions about the strength of plant defenses along resource gradients must be expanded to include microbial associates.
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Details
- Title
- Bacteria and Competing Herbivores Weaken Top–Down and Bottom–Up Aphid Suppression
- Creators
- Carmen K Blubaugh - Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Clemson UniversityLynne Carpenter-Boggs - Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, Washington State UniversityJohn P Reganold - Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, Washington State UniversityRobert N Schaeffer - Department of Entomology, Washington State UniversityWilliam E Snyder - Department of Entomology, Washington State University
- Publication Details
- Frontiers in plant science, Vol.9, pp.1239-1239
- Academic Unit
- Crop and Soil Sciences, Department of
- Publisher
- Frontiers Media S.A
- Grant note
- 2016-04642 / U.S. Department of Agriculture
- Identifiers
- 99900547911601842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article