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Ngoka, Thesis Final 2012 RELATIVE ABUNDANCE OF THE WILD SILKMOTH, Argema mimosae BOISDUVAL ON DIFFERENT HOST PLANTS AND HOST SELECTION BEHAVIOUR OF PARASITOIDS, AT ARABUKO SOKOKE FOREST BY Boniface M. Ngoka (M.Sc.) I84/15320/05 Department of Zoological Sciences A THESIS SUBMITTED IN FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE SCHOOL OF PURE AND APPLIED SCIENCES OF KENYATTA UNIVERSITY NOVEMBER, 2012 ii DECLARATION This thesis is my original work and has not been presented for a degree in any other university or any other award. Signature----------------------------------------------Date--------------------------------- SUPERVISORS We confirm that the thesis is submitted with our approval as supervisors Professor Jones M. Mueke Department of Zoological Sciences, School of Pure and Applied Sciences Kenyatta University Nairobi, Kenya Signature----------------------------------------------Date--------------------------------- Dr. Esther N. Kioko Zoology Department National Museums of Kenya Nairobi, Kenya Signature----------------------------------------------Date--------------------------------- Professor Suresh K. Raina International Center of Insect Physiology and Ecology Commercial Insects Programme Nairobi, Kenya Signature----------------------------------------------Date--------------------------------- iii DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated to my family, parents, brothers and sisters for their perseverance, love and understanding which made this task possible. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My sincere thanks are due to Prof. Suresh K. Raina, Senior icipe supervisor and Commercial Insects Programme Leader, whose contribution ranged from useful suggestions and discussions throughout the study period. My sincere appreciations are also due to Dr. Esther N. Kioko, icipe immediate supervisor who provided me with wealth of literature and made many suggestions that shaped the research methodologies. Her support and keen supervision throughout the study period gave me a lot of inspiration. I would like to thank Prof. J M. Mueke, Kenyatta University supervisor whose keen interest was the force behind the completion of this thesis. His contribution ranged from useful suggestions, valuable discussions and critical review of the thesis. I recognize and appreciate the facilities and useful advice on volatiles by Dr. Torto, icipe, Head of behavioural and Chemical Ecology. I highly appreciate and acknowledge the financial support (Research scholarships) for this study from International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and United Nations Development Fund-Global Environmental Facility (UNDP-GEF) under the Dissertation Research Internship Programme (DRIP), icipe capacity building through Commercial Insects Programme. It is my pleasure to thank Prof. Christian Borgemeister, the Director General icipe for all the research facilities and provisions that I enjoyed during the course of this study. v I am grateful to Dr. Everlyn Nguku for the useful suggestions and encouragement in the course of this study. I wish to express my sincere gratitude to Ms Florence Kiilu for the technical assistance in the laboratory work. I am also thankful to Dr. Daisy Salifu for her guidance during the data analysis, Dr. Elliud Muli and all other colleagues in the Commercial Insects Project for their technical and moral support. I express my gratitude to the many farmers that I met during this study for the information that they provided. I thank Benson Tsuma who provided field assistance. I am grateful to Ms Alice Kasika and Mr. Edward Mwakombe for allowing me to carry out experiments in their farms. Finally, special thanks and appreciation is to my wife Eunice, my children Cynthia, Cyril and Cyprian, my mother, brothers, sisters and my in-laws for love, patience, support and understanding which enabled me to go through this course successfully. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS TITLE………………………………………………………………………………..……i DECLARATION............................................................................................................... ii DEDICATION.................................................................................................................. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................ iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................ vi LIST OF TABLES……………………………………………………………………...xii LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................... xiii LIST OF PLATES .......................................................................................................... xv ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS ..................................................................... xvii ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................... xix CHAPTER ONE ............................................................................................................... 1 1 GENERAL INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background information ............................................................................................... 1 1.2 Problem statement ....................................................................................................... 5 1.3 Justification ................................................................................................................. 7 1.4 Hypotheses .................................................................................................................... 9 1.5 Objectives ..................................................................................................................... 9 1.5.1 General objective ............................................................................................... 9 1.5.2 Specific objectives ............................................................................................. 9 1.6 Limitations .................................................................................................................. 10 1.7 Conceptual frame work ............................................................................................... 10 vii CHAPTER TWO ............................................................................................................ 12 2 LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................................................... 12 2.1 Historical perspective of silk and wild silkmoths ....................................................... 12 2.2 Scope and classification of natural silk ....................................................................... 13 2.3 Silk production and consumption trends .................................................................... 14 2.4 Diversity of wild silkmoths in Kenya ......................................................................... 17 2.4.1 Benefits of wild silkmoths ............................................................................... 20 2.4.2 Prospects and problems of wild sericulture in Africa ...................................... 22 2.4.3 Economic potential of Argema mimosae silk .................................................. 23 2.4.4 Wild silk farming and forest conservation ....................................................... 23 2.5 The natural vegetation cover in Arabuko Sokoke forest reserve ................................ 24 2.5.1 Human population adjacent to the Arabuko Sokoke forest ............................. 25 2.5.2 Arabuko Sokoke forest conservation issues .................................................... 26 2.6 Semiochemicals .......................................................................................................... 27 2.6.1 The role of semiochemicals in insect behaviour and response to food odours 27 2.6.2 Herbivore –induced plant volatiles and their role in natural enemies attraction....................................................................................................................29 2.6.3 Argema mimosae larvae as herbivores ............................................................. 30 2.7 Post cocoon analysis ................................................................................................. 31 2.7.1 Silk testing and quality control ........................................................................ 33 CHAPTER THREE ........................................................................................................ 35 3 GENERAL MATERIALS AND METHODS ........................................................... 35 3.1Study site ...................................................................................................................... 35 viii 3.2 Survey on spatial distribution of Argema mimosae food plants and wild silkmoth cocoons ........................................................................................................................ 37 3.3 Phenology of developmental stages of Argema mimosae .......................................... 38 3.4 Harnessing natural silk fibre from Argema mimosae cocoons ................................. 39 3.5 Volatiles responsible for parasitism on different developmental stages of Argema mimosae on different species of food plant ................................................................ 40 3.6 Data analysis ..............................................................................................................
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