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Impact of the Red Imported Fire Ant Upon Cotton Arthropods

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Impact of the Red Imported Fire Ant Upon Cotton Arthropods IMPACT OF THE RED IMPORTED FIRE ANT UPON COTTON ARTHROPODS A Thesis by RODRIGO ROGELIO DIAZ GALARRAGA Submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE May 2003 Major Subject: Entomology IMPACT OF THE RED IMPORTED FIRE ANT UPON COTTON ARTHROPODS A Thesis By RODRIGO ROGELIO DIAZ GALARRAGA Submitted to Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE Approved as to style and content by: Allen Knutson Roel Lopez (Co-Chair of Committee) (Member) Julio Bernal Kevin Heinz (Co-Chair of Committee) (Head of Department) S. Bradleigh Vinson (Member) May 2003 Major Subject: Entomology iii ABSTRACT Impact of the Red Imported Fire Ant upon Cotton Arthropods. (May 2003) Rodrigo Rogelio Diaz Galarraga, B.S., Escuela Agricola Panamericana, Zamorano Co-Chairs of Advisory Committee: Dr. Allen Knutson Dr. Julio Bernal Inclusion/exclusion field experiments demonstrated that the red imported fire ant, Solenopsis invicta Buren, did not affect the abundance of 49 groups of insects and spiders collected in pitfall traps. However, arthropod diversity was significantly greater (H’ = 2.829) in exclusion plots relative to inclusion plots (H’ = 2.763). Moreover, this study demonstrated that S. invicta can have an important impact upon cotton arthropod communities, including key predator species. Densities of ground beetles (Carabidae), spiders, lacewings (Chrysoperla spp.), and minute pirate bugs (Orius spp.) were significantly lower in the presence of S. invicta. However, populations of aphidophagous insects such as Hippodamia spp. and Scymnus spp. increased with cotton aphid (Aphis gossypii Glover) density early in the season. Abundance of cotton aphids was ca. 5× greater in inclusion plots, likely due to protection and tending by S. invicta. This increase was observed early in the season, though aphid populations did not reach economic levels. Predation of sentinel bollworm [Helicoverpa zea (Boddie)] and beet armyworm (Spodoptera exigua Hubner) eggs increased 20-30%, when S. invicta was present. Most predation of sentinel beet armyworm egg masses, measured via direct nocturnal observations, was due to S. invicta (68%) and cotton fleahopper [Pseudatomoscelis iv seriatus (Reuter)] (21%) in plots with S. invicta, and by the mite Abrolophus sp. (52%), spiders (13%) and minute pirate bug (13%) in plots without S. invicta. The frequencies of minute pirate bug, cotton fleahopper, S. invicta and native ants in beat bucket samples did not accurately reflect the frequency with which they were observed feeding on sentinel noctuid eggs. Overall, the results of these studies demonstrated that S. invicta was associated with declines in the abundances of minute pirate bug, spiders, and lacewing and with an increment in cotton aphid populations, though they did not reach the economic threshold. Moreover, S. invicta significantly increased predation of bollworm and beet armyworm eggs. All together, the results suggested that S. invicta has a net positive impact on cotton pest management. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I thank Dr. Julio Bernal for his permanent support, encouragement, and friendship. These two years have been very fructiferous in my life as person, researcher and student thanks to his counsel. I would like to manifest my deep gratitude to advisory committee members: Drs. Allen Knutson, S. Bradleigh Vinson, and Roel Lopez for their advice and support. Many thanks to P. Gillogly, V. Manrique, A. H. Bokonon-Ganta, B. Tomov, O. Dibua and M. Campos (Texas A&M University, College Station and Dallas) for their help during the development of the experiments in College Station, Thrall and Dallas. A. Abrameit of the Stiles Farm Foundation, Thrall, TX provided field assistance. I am grateful to P. Gillogly, B. Tomov, J. Mottern, V. Manrique, O. Dibua, J. Butler, A. Joyce and R. Lomeli for their assistance and friendship. I also wish to express my gratitude to my parents, Rogelio and Magdalena, and brother, Daniel, whose love and support have always been present in my life. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………………. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS………………………………………………………… v TABLE OF CONTENTS…………………………………………………………. vi LIST OF FIGURES……………………………………………………………….. vii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION………………………………………………… 1 II EFFECT OF THE RED IMPORTED FIRE ANT, Solenopsis invicta Buren (HYMENOPTERA: FORMICIDAE), ON ARTHROPOD AND KEY PREDATORS COMMUNITIES IN COTTON…………………………………………………………… 4 Introduction………………………………………………………… 4 Materials and Methods……………………………………………... 6 Results……………………………………………………………… 9 Discussion………………………………………………………….. 17 III EFFECT OF THE RED IMPORTED FIRE ANT, Solenopsis invicta Buren (HYMENOPTERA: FORMICIDAE) ON COTTON APHID POPULATIONS AND PREDATION OF BOLLWORM AND BEET ARMYWORM (LEPIDOPTERA: NOCTUIDAE) EGGS…………….……………………………….. 22 Introduction………………………………………………………… 22 Materials and Methods……………………………………………... 24 Results……………………………………………………………… 29 Discussion………………………………………………………….. 36 IV CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ……………….. 40 REFERENCES CITED………………………………………….………………… 43 APPENDIX………………………………………………………………………... 55 VITA………………………………………………………………………………. 58 vii LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE 1 Mean numbers of S. invicta per bait vial in S. invicta exclusion and S. invicta inclusion plots, Williamson Co., Texas, 2001…………….… 11 2 Mean numbers of the predators most frequently collected in beat bucket samples, Williamson Co., Texas, 2001………………………… 14 3 Relative abundance of predators collected in June to August using beat bucket samples in S. invicta inclusion and S. invicta exclusion plots, Williamson Co., Texas, 2001………………..………………….. 15 4 Mean numbers of the less abundant predators collected in beat bucket samples, Williamson Co., Texas, 2001………………….…….. 16 5 Mean number of Aphis gossypii per cotton leaf in S. invicta inclusion and S. invicta exclusion plots, Williamson Co., Texas, 2001……………………………………………………………...……. 31 6 Proportion of bollworm eggs absent after 24 h in S. invicta inclusion and exclusion plots, Williamson Co., Texas, 2001..………….………. 32 7 Proportions of observed predation events on beet armyworm eggs corresponding to individual predator species, Williamson Co., Texas 2001………………………………………………….………………... 33 8 Relative frequencies (shown as proportions) of predators observed in S. invicta inclusion plots based on beat bucket samples (n = 96) and visual observations of sentinel egg predation (n = 44), Dallas, Texas, 2002…………………………………………………………………… 34 9 Relative frequencies (shown as proportions) of predators observed in S. invicta exclusion plots based on beat bucket samples (n = 96) and visual observations of sentinel egg predation (n = 37), Dallas, Texas, 2002…………………………………………………………………... 35 1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION The red imported fire ant, Solenopsis invicta Buren, presumably arrived in the port of Mobile, Alabama, from Brazil between 1933 and 1945 (Callcott and Collins 1996). Since that time, it has spread at a rate of 1.47 × 105 ha per yr, and is now established in more than 114 million ha, in 670 counties in 11 states in the US and Puerto Rico (Callcott and Collins 1996). Recently, S. invicta expanded into, California and New Mexico, and its spread seems to be restricted only by cold temperatures and low humidity (Korzukhin et al. 2001). S. invicta preferentially inhabits disturbed areas in general (Taber 2000). Several biological factors including a venomous sting and its aggressive foraging activity in human-inhabited areas make fire ant an important pest. S. invicta is a powerful competitor compared to other invertebrates species. Porter and Savignano (1990) provide a list of characteristics that contribute to the success of fire ants: (1) preference for disturbed habitats; (2) tolerance of a wide range of temperatures; (3) use of a wide variety of food resources; (4) workers highly variable in size; and, (5) colonies with a high reproductive capacity. The impact of S. invicta in agricultural landscapes is the subject of debate because the uncertainty of impacts. On one hand, S. invicta can have negative impacts ___________ This thesis follows the style and format of the Journal of Economic Entomology. 2 such as feeding on seed and plants of corn, citrus, okra and soybeans, damaging harvesting equipment, and interfering with the activities of agricultural field workers (Taber 2000). On the other hand, S. invicta is an aggressive predator, reducing populations of ticks, chiggers, boll weevil, the sugar cane borer, and corn earworm (Vinson 1997), and their mounds enrich pasture soils with micronutrients (Showler and Reagan 1987). Cotton, Gossypium hirsutum L., is the most important field crop in Texas with ca. 2.27 millions ha cultivated in 2002 (Texas Agricultural Statistical Service 2003). However, pest management in cotton is a prime example of over-reliance of chemical control of pests, leading to unsustainable cotton production: “The history of cotton insect control has been marked by waste, misery, death and destruction. Yet we seem incapable of learning from a pattern of disaster” (Van den Bosch 1978). Due to many problems associated with sole reliance on chemical pest control, cotton pest management has evolved in recent decades to an integrated approach where biological control, cultural control and crop management play crucial roles. Biological control of pests in cotton is mainly exerted by a complex of generalist predators that prevents potential pests from causing economic loss (Sterling et al.1989). Indeed,
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