ISCE 2019 Annual Meeting Atlanta, GA June 2- 6, 2019 Oral Presentations Abbot P. Chemical ecology and sociality in aphids: opportunities and directions Vanderbilt University [email protected] Aphids have long been recognized as good phytochemists. They are small sap-feeding plant herbivores with complex life cycles that can involve cyclical parthenogenesis and seasonal host plant alternation, and most are plant specialists. Aphids have distinctive traits for identifying and exploiting their host plants, including the expression of polyphenisms, a form of discrete phenotypic plasticity characteristic of insects, but taken to extreme in aphids. In a relatively small number of species, a social polyphenism occurs, involving subadult "soldiers" that are behaviorally or morphologically specialized to defend their nestmates from predators. Soldiers are sterile in many species, constituting a form of eusociality and reproductive division of labor that bears striking resemblances with other social insects. Despite a wealth of knowledge about the chemical ecology of non-social aphids and their phytophagous lifestyles, the molecular and chemoecological mechanisms involved in social polyphenisms in aphids are poorly understood. We provide a brief primer on aspects of aphid life cycles and chemical ecology for the non- specialists, and an overview of the social biology of aphids, with special attention to chemoecological perspectives. We discuss some of our own efforts to characterize how host plant chemistry may shape social traits in aphids. As good phytochemists, social aphids provide a bridge between the study of insect social evolution sociality, and the chemical ecology Themed Session: Language of Cooperation and Conflict: Chemical Communication in Social Insects Oral Presentation Presentation Date: Wednesday, June 5th, 2019 1 ISCE 2019 Annual Meeting Atlanta, GA June 2- 6, 2019 Oral Presentations Adams R. M.1 and Jones T. H.2 The evolution of chemical weaponry in megalomyrmex social parasites 1The Ohio State University, Department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology 2Department of Chemistry, Virginia Military Institute, USA [email protected] Aphids have long been recognized as good phytochemists. They are small sap-feeding plant herbivores with complex life cycles that can involve cyclical parthenogenesis and seasonal host plant alternation, and most are plant specialists. Aphids have distinctive traits for identifying and exploiting their host plants, including the expression of polyphenisms, a form of discrete phenotypic plasticity characteristic of insects, but taken to extreme in aphids. In a relatively small number of species, a social polyphenism occurs, involving subadult "soldiers" that are behaviorally or morphologically specialized to defend their nestmates from predators. Soldiers are sterile in many species, constituting a form of eusociality and reproductive division of labor that bears striking resemblances with other social insects. Despite a wealth of knowledge about the chemical ecology of non-social aphids and their phytophagous lifestyles, the molecular and chemoecological mechanisms involved in social polyphenisms in aphids are poorly understood. We provide a brief primer on aspects of aphid life cycles and chemical ecology for the non- specialists, and an overview of the social biology of aphids, with special attention to chemoecological perspectives. We discuss some of our own efforts to characterize how host plant chemistry may shape social traits in aphids. As good phytochemists, social aphids provide a bridge between the study of insect social evolution sociality, and the chemical ecology Themed Session: Chemical Communication of Social Insect Associates: Espionage, Weaponry and Stealth Oral Presentation Presentation Date: Wednesday, June 5th, 2019 2 ISCE 2019 Annual Meeting Atlanta, GA June 2- 6, 2019 Oral Presentations Ali J.1, Stelinski L.2, Willett D.3, and Rivera M.4 ‘Tuning’ communication among four trophic levels 1Pennsylvania State University 2University of Florida 3Cornell University 4UC Riverside [email protected] Plants can facilitate attraction of herbivore predators and parasites with herbivore-induced volatiles (HIPVs). However, a central unknown of manipulating a natural environment is how the interactive effects of multiple plant stressors impacts belowground multi-trophic interactions. Agricultural systems, while disturbed, are useful model systems for investigating the effects of multiple stressors on plants and their related interactions because of the redundancy of pests and pathogens and thus, the predictability of the species occurring in these environments. Chemical communication among plants and animals belowground remains behind analogous current understanding of terrestrial systems both fundamentally, and from an applied perspective. Drawing upon the existing body of information on multi-trophic belowground communication, we propose development of a method to strategically and dynamically manipulate systems in a manner analogous to ‘tuning an audio mixer’ with hypothetical ‘knobs’ that could be adjusted by the user for human benefit. We suggest that biological control could be artificially up-regulated or down regulated by the action of a pest management practitioner using external forces such as volatiles to regulate predator-prey interactions with the ultimate goal of sustainable plant production. Themed Session: Chemically-Mediated Consumer-Prey Interactions Oral Presentation Presentation Date: Thursday, June 6th, 2019 3 ISCE 2019 Annual Meeting Atlanta, GA June 2- 6, 2019 Oral Presentations Amalin D.1,2, B.J.M. Almarinez1,2, M. Arcelo4, M.A. Tavera2,3, J.I. B. Janairo1,2 and A. Zhang5 Updates on the sex pheromone trapping system for the control of cacao pod borer, Conopomorpha cramerella, in the Philippines 1Biology Department, De La Salle University (DLSU), Taft Ave., Manila, Philippines 2Biological Control Research Unit (BCRU), CENSER, DLSU, Taft Ave., Manila, Philippines 3Chemistry Department, DLSU, Taft Ave., Manila, Philippines 4Bureau of Plant Industry -NCRDC, Davao City, Philippines 5United States Department of Agriculture, West, Beltsville, Maryland, USA [email protected] Cacao is a promising high value crop in the Philippines and considered by the government as a priority crop. Before the Philippines can take the opportunity to be a major producer of cacao, production constraint such as pest management should be addressed. One of the major insect pests of cacao in the Philippines is the cacao pod borer (CPB), Conopomorpha cramerella, which can cause up to 50 per cent annual loss or even higher if no proper management is employed. This pest is causing considerable damage in southern Philippines. Current management of CPB heavily relies on chemical control but very expensive and not safe to human and environment. The use of sex pheromone for monitoring and control of CPB is gaining an attention as major component of IPM for cacao. A new blend of the synthetic sex pheromone of CBP showed potential in monitoring and mass trapping activities. Evaluation of the different height field installation of the trap was done. Results showed highest average trap catches in 0.1m above the canopy but not significantly different from trap installed 0.5m above and significantly lower in 0.0m (along the canopy) and 0.5m below the canopy. No CPB was trapped in traps with no lure installed 1.0m above canopy. This result confirms that courting and mating of CPB happen in an open area. Follow-up field bioassay is underway to determine the optimum number of traps installed 1.0m above canopy in 1-hectare cacao plantation. Themed Session: Natural Product Application in Insect Pest Control Oral Presentation Presentation Date: Monday, June 3rd, 2019 4 ISCE 2019 Annual Meeting Atlanta, GA June 2- 6, 2019 Oral Presentations Amsalem E, Starkey J., Brown A. Do bumblebees (Bombus impatiens) produce brood pheromone? Department of Entomology, Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, U.S.A. [email protected] Social societies, where egg laying is monopolized by one or a few females, have evolved multiple times during the evolution but were always rooted in a simple family structure. Female reproduction in such families are often characterized by a trade-off between reproduction and brood care, yet, most work on the regulation of reproduction in social insects have focused on chemical signals and traits exhibited by adults. Here we examined the role of brood in regulating worker reproduction in B. impatiens, an annual eusocial species where reproduction is monopolized by the queen via an unknown mechanism. We found that young larvae reduced workers egg laying in a quantity-dependent manner. These effects were replicable regardless of worker age, relatedness to brood, or brood parentage/sex. However, these effects are unlikely to be mediated through a pheromone produced by the larvae, as both volatiles and non- volatiles extracts of young larvae, either starved or fully fed failed to replicate the effect of live larvae. The findings that any larvae regulate worker reproduction in this simple, yet eusocial, species highlight the role of brood in the evolution of complex eusocial insects as a mechanism for regulating worker sterility. Our findings do not support the existence of brood pheromones, in line with the small colony size and the simple social organization of bumblebees. These findings also suggest that B. impatiens queen inhibits