Dispersal behavior of Tetranychus evansi and T. urticae on tomato at several spatial scales and densities: implications for integrated pest management

Ginette Y Azandémè-Hounmalon; Simon Fellous; Serge Kreiter; Komi K M Fiaboe; Sevgan Subramanian; Miriam Kungu; Thibaud Martin

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0095071

Dispersal behavior of Tetranychus evansi and T. urticae on tomato at several spatial scales and densities: implications for integrated pest management

PLoS One. 2014 Apr 17;9(4):e95071. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0095071. eCollection 2014.

Authors

Ginette Y Azandémè-Hounmalon¹, Simon Fellous², Serge Kreiter³, Komi K M Fiaboe⁴, Sevgan Subramanian⁴, Miriam Kungu⁴, Thibaud Martin¹

Affiliations

¹ Cirad, UPR Hortsys, Montpellier, France; icipe- Plant Health Department, Nairobi, Kenya.
² INRA, UMR CBGP, Montpellier, France.
³ Montpellier SupAgro, UMR CBGP, Montpellier, France.
⁴ icipe- Plant Health Department, Nairobi, Kenya.

Abstract

Studying distribution is necessary to understand and manage the dynamics of species with spatially structured populations. Here we studied the distribution in Tetranychus evansi and T. urticae, two mite pests of tomato, in the scope of evaluating factors that can influence the effectiveness of Integrated Pest Management strategies. We found greater positive density-dependent distribution with T. evansi than T. urticae when assayed on single, detached tomato leaves. Indeed, T. evansi distribution among leaflets increased with initial population density while it was high even at low T. urticae densities. Intensity and rate of damage to whole plants was higher with T. evansi than T. urticae. We further studied the circadian migration of T. evansi within plant. When T. evansi density was high the distribution behavior peaked between 8 am and 3 pm and between 8 pm and 3 am local time of Kenya. Over 24 h the total number of mites ascending and descending was always similar and close to the total population size. The gregarious behavior of T. evansi combined with its rapid population growth rate, may explain why few tomato plants can be severely damaged by T. evansi and how suddenly all the crop can be highly infested. However the localisation and elimination of the first infested plants damaged by T. evansi could reduce the risk of outbreaks in the entire crop. These findings suggest also that an acaricide treated net placed on the first infested plants could be very effective to control T. evansi. Moreover circadian migration would therefore accentuate the efficiency of an acaricide treated net covering the infested plants.

Publication types

Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Animals
Behavior, Animal / physiology*
Circadian Rhythm / physiology*
Pest Control*
Solanum lycopersicum / parasitology*
Tetranychidae / physiology*

Grants and funding

The study was made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under Award No. EPP-A-00-09-00004. The contents are the responsibility of Horticulture CRSP project BioNetAgro investigators and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government. We wish to acknowledge our project partners, Cirad and icipe for all the support they accorded us in planning and implementation of the project. The funding sources had no involvement at any stage in the preparation of this paper and the funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.