Indirect interactions between herbivorous insects that share the same host have been focused on insects feeding on herbaceous plants, while few studies investigate similar interactions on woody plants. We investigated performance and feeding behavior of two citrus aphids, Aphis spiraecola Patch and Toxoptera citricida Kirkaldy, on sweet orange as affected by prior infestation of conspecifics and heterospecifics. Results showed that pre-infestation-induced interactions between A. spiraecola and T. citricida were asymmetric, with A. spiraecola gaining more fitness. In detail, pre-infestation by A. spiraecola decreased adult weight, enhanced survival rate and accelerated phloem sap acceptance of conspecifics. However, A. spiraecola pre-infestation did not affect performance or feeding behavior of T. citricida. In another infestation sequence, the pre-infestation of T. citricida did not affect conspecifics, but positively affected heterospecifics, indicated as a decreased pre-reproductive period, enhanced survival rate, adult weight, fecundity, and feeding efficiency, i.e., faster access and acceptance of phloem sap, and longer phloem sap ingestion duration. Furthermore, we found A. spiraecola pre-infestation enhanced amino acid concentration, amino acid to sugar ratio, activated salicylic acid and jasmonic acid marker gene expression, while T. citricida pre-infestation only depressed jasmonic acid marker gene expression. Changes in nutrient and phytohormone-dependent defense probably underlie the asymmetric effect.
Keywords: aphid performance; feeding behavior; phytohormone-dependent defense; plant nutrition.