Parasitic wasp females are attracted to blends of host-induced plant volatiles: do qualitative and quantitative differences in the blend matter? [v1; ref status: indexed, http://f1000r.es/y3]

• Main Authors: Masayoshi Uefune, Soichi Kugimiya, Rika Ozawa, Junji Takabayashi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: F1000 Research Ltd 2013-02-01
• Series: F1000Research
• Subjects: Behavioral Ecology; Behavioral Neuroscience; Ecosystem Ecology; Plant-Environment Interactions; Sensory Systems
• Online Access: http://f1000research.com/articles/2-57/v1

Naïve Cotesia vestalis wasps, parasitoids of diamondback moth (DBM) larvae, are attracted to a synthetic blend (Blend A) of host-induced plant volatiles composed of sabinene, n-heptanal, α-pinene, and (Z)-3-hexenyl acetate, in a ratio of 1.8:1.3:2.0:3.0. We studied whether qualitative (adding (R)-limonene: Blend B) or quantitative changes (changing ratios: Blend C) to Blend A affected the olfactory response of C. vestalis in the background of intact komatsuna plant volatiles. Naïve wasps showed equal preference to Blends A and B and Blends A and C in two-choice tests. Wasps with oviposition experience in the presence of Blend B preferred Blend B over Blend A, while wasps that had oviposited without a volatile blend showed no preference between the two. Likewise, wasps that had starvation experience in the presence of Blend B preferred Blend A over Blend B, while wasps that had starved without a volatile blend showed no preference between the two. Wasps that had oviposition experience either with or without Blend A showed equal preferences between Blends C and A. However, wasps that had starvation experience in the presence of Blend A preferred Blend C over Blend A, while those that starved without a volatile blend showed equal preferences between the two. By manipulating quality and quantity of the synthetic attractants, we showed to what extent C. vestalis could discriminate/learn slight differences between blends that were all, in principle, attractive.