Journal
BIOCONTROL
Volume 67, Issue 6, Pages 583-592Publisher
SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1007/s10526-022-10168-0
Keywords
Tephritidae; Medfly; Ground-dwelling predator; Mulch of straw; Bare soil; Festuca arundinacea
Categories
Funding
- European Union's Horizon 2020 Program for Research and Innovation [818184]
- PRIMA [1812]
- CRUE-CSIC agreement
- Springer Nature
- H2020 Societal Challenges Programme [818184] Funding Source: H2020 Societal Challenges Programme
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Ground covers can effectively reduce the emergence of the Mediterranean fruit fly, with the key role played by diverse ground-dwelling predators such as spiders, beetles, ants, and earwigs.
Three developmental stages of the Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) (Diptera: Tephritidae), can be found in the soil (late third instar larvae, pupae, and teneral adults). These stages are susceptible to predation by generalist ground-dwelling predators. Our objectives have been to investigate the association between ground cover management (bare soil, a seeded cover of Festuca arundinacea and a mulch of straw), the emergence success of C. capitata, and the activity density of the most important groups of ground-dwelling predators (spiders, beetles, ants and earwigs). As expected, C. capitata emergence was lower in a seeded cover of Festuca arundinacea (FA) and a mulch of straw (M) (10.2%) relative to bare soil (BS) (13.2%). This was related to higher diversity and activity density of ground-dwelling predators in FA and M compared to BS. The contribution of the ground-dwelling predators considered in this study to this reduction highlights the key role of beetles, earwigs and, to a lesser extent, ants, while the contribution of the most abundant group of ground-dwelling predators, spiders, remains unclear. Ground covers appear as a strong and sustainable conservation biological control method that should be taken into consideration for the management of C. capitata populations.
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