Preprint Article Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

Short-term Thermal Changes Affect Parasitism on Asian Chestnut Gall Wasp

Version 1 : Received: 10 October 2020 / Approved: 12 October 2020 / Online: 12 October 2020 (10:18:52 CEST)

A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.

Bonsignore, C.P.; Vizzari, G.; Vono, G.; Bernardo, U. Short-Term Cold Stress Affects Parasitism on the Asian Chestnut Gall Wasp Dryocosmus kuriphilus. Insects 2020, 11, 841. Bonsignore, C.P.; Vizzari, G.; Vono, G.; Bernardo, U. Short-Term Cold Stress Affects Parasitism on the Asian Chestnut Gall Wasp Dryocosmus kuriphilus. Insects 2020, 11, 841.

Abstract

Thermal variations affect tri-trophic interactions involving plants, herbivores, and parasitoids, causing a mismatch between their phenological cycles. In the current environmental context of climate change, climatic factors can undergo profound and sudden changes, such as sudden hot or cold snaps. Here we show that episodes of short but sustained low temperatures have increased, mainly in the month of May, in the last two decades. We subjected galls induced by Asian chestnut gall wasp (ACGW) Dryocosmus kuriphilus to cold stress to assess if and how the pest and its parasitoids were affected. Over the course of two years seasonal parasitism, parasitism rates, the relative abundance of each parasitoid species, and mortality of ACGW were calculated. We found that the cold treatment affected both pest and parasitoids, resulting in a reduction in emerging ACGWs and differing ratios of species within the parasitoid community. The striking example was the change in the relative frequency of three species of Eupelmus spp. and of Mesopolobus tibialis, which doubled in thermally-stressed galls in all chestnut fields. The thermal effects on the development of the host and the direct effects of cold temperatures on the surface of galls (i.e., humidity or hardness of the galls) warrant further research in this direction.

Keywords

Chestnut; climate thermal fluctuations; Cynipidae; Dryocosmus kuriphilus; Eupelmus spp.; fitness; host-parasitoid relationship

Subject

Biology and Life Sciences, Anatomy and Physiology

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