Parasitoid attack of the seed-feeding beetle Bruchus loti enhances the germination success of Lathyrus japonicus seeds

Autor: Zenta Nakai, Shin-ichi Akimoto, Tetsuya Kondo
Rok vydání: 2011
Předmět:
Zdroj: Arthropod-Plant Interactions. 5:227-234
ISSN: 1872-8847
1872-8855
DOI: 10.1007/s11829-011-9132-9
Popis: Hard seeds of some legume species can germinate after seed-feeding insects bore through the seed coat and consequently break seed dormancy. Larvae of bruchine beetles are the main seed feeders attacking many legume species. Boring of the hard seed coat by bruchine beetle larvae enhances the germination percentage of legume species, but consuming too much of a single seed may reduce the chances the seed will survive. We hypothesise that the early mortality of bruchine larvae due to parasitism contributes positively to seed germination because larvae are killed before consuming too large a quantity of the seed. Here, we tested this hypothesis using Lathyrus japonicus seeds and Bruchus loti, the main seed feeder attacking this plant. B. loti larvae were mainly parasitised by two species of idiobiont parasitoids—Pteromalus sp. and Dinarmus sp. The seeds from which Pteromalus wasps emerged germinated more successfully than did the seeds from which B. loti adults emerged. B. loti larvae parasitised by the two wasp species consumed the seeds less intensively than did unparasitised larvae. Thus, the results of experiments supported our hypothesis. However, the germination success varied significantly between the seeds from which Pteromalus and Dinarmus wasps emerged. The difference in the size of seeds the two wasp species chose for parasitism may have influenced the germination percentage.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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