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Insect Feeding on Sorghum bicolor Pollen and Hymenoptera Attraction to Aphid-Produced Honeydew

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Insect pollinators and beneficial insects are in decline worldwide as agricultural practices shift to monocultures of the same crop grown over large areas. In response to the decline, the growth of nectar-rich plants is promoted, while the potential of grasses to provide resources fo...

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Autores principales: Harris-Shultz, Karen R., Armstrong, John Scott, Caballero, Michael, Hoback, William Wyatt, Knoll, Joseph E.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9780982/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36555062
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects13121152
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author Harris-Shultz, Karen R.
Armstrong, John Scott
Caballero, Michael
Hoback, William Wyatt
Knoll, Joseph E.
author_facet Harris-Shultz, Karen R.
Armstrong, John Scott
Caballero, Michael
Hoback, William Wyatt
Knoll, Joseph E.
author_sort Harris-Shultz, Karen R.
collection PubMed
description SIMPLE SUMMARY: Insect pollinators and beneficial insects are in decline worldwide as agricultural practices shift to monocultures of the same crop grown over large areas. In response to the decline, the growth of nectar-rich plants is promoted, while the potential of grasses to provide resources for pollinators is rarely investigated. Sorghum, a widely grown crop produces abundant pollen. Additionally, infestations by the sorghum aphid, Melanaphis sorghi, produce large amounts of honeydew, a sugary substance that could provide an alternative to nectar. This field study characterized the use of sorghum pollen and sorghum aphid honeydew by Hymenoptera (bees, parasitoids, wasps) and other insects. Our studies show that susceptible sorghum could provide a food source to at least 29 families of Hymenoptera and other beneficial insects and could be promoted as a valuable landscape planting for preserving these insects. ABSTRACT: Pollinators are declining globally, potentially reducing both human food supply and plant diversity. To support pollinator populations, planting of nectar-rich plants with different flowering seasons is encouraged while promoting wind-pollinated plants, including grasses, is rarely recommended. However, many bees and other pollinators collect pollen from grasses which is used as a protein source. In addition to pollen, Hymenoptera may also collect honeydew from plants infested with aphids. In this study, insects consuming or collecting pollen from sweet sorghum, Sorghum bicolor, were recorded while pan traps and yellow sticky card surveys were placed in grain sorghum fields and in areas with Johnsongrass, Sorghum halepense to assess the Hymenoptera response to honeydew excreted by the sorghum aphid (SA), Melanaphis sorghi. Five genera of insects, including bees, hoverflies, and earwigs, were observed feeding on pollen in sweet sorghum, with differences observed by date, but not plant height or panicle length. Nearly 2000 Hymenoptera belonging to 29 families were collected from grain sorghum with 84% associated with aphid infestations. About 4 times as many Hymenoptera were collected in SA infested sorghum with significantly more ants, halictid bees, scelionid, sphecid, encyrtid, mymarid, diapriid and braconid wasps were found in infested sorghum plots. In Johnsongrass plots, 20 times more Hymenoptera were collected from infested plots. Together, the data suggest that sorghum is serving as a pollen food source for hoverflies, earwigs, and bees and sorghum susceptible to SA could provide energy from honeydew. Future research should examine whether planting strips of susceptible sorghum at crop field edges would benefit Hymenoptera and pollinators.
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spelling pubmed-97809822022-12-24 Insect Feeding on Sorghum bicolor Pollen and Hymenoptera Attraction to Aphid-Produced Honeydew Harris-Shultz, Karen R. Armstrong, John Scott Caballero, Michael Hoback, William Wyatt Knoll, Joseph E. Insects Article SIMPLE SUMMARY: Insect pollinators and beneficial insects are in decline worldwide as agricultural practices shift to monocultures of the same crop grown over large areas. In response to the decline, the growth of nectar-rich plants is promoted, while the potential of grasses to provide resources for pollinators is rarely investigated. Sorghum, a widely grown crop produces abundant pollen. Additionally, infestations by the sorghum aphid, Melanaphis sorghi, produce large amounts of honeydew, a sugary substance that could provide an alternative to nectar. This field study characterized the use of sorghum pollen and sorghum aphid honeydew by Hymenoptera (bees, parasitoids, wasps) and other insects. Our studies show that susceptible sorghum could provide a food source to at least 29 families of Hymenoptera and other beneficial insects and could be promoted as a valuable landscape planting for preserving these insects. ABSTRACT: Pollinators are declining globally, potentially reducing both human food supply and plant diversity. To support pollinator populations, planting of nectar-rich plants with different flowering seasons is encouraged while promoting wind-pollinated plants, including grasses, is rarely recommended. However, many bees and other pollinators collect pollen from grasses which is used as a protein source. In addition to pollen, Hymenoptera may also collect honeydew from plants infested with aphids. In this study, insects consuming or collecting pollen from sweet sorghum, Sorghum bicolor, were recorded while pan traps and yellow sticky card surveys were placed in grain sorghum fields and in areas with Johnsongrass, Sorghum halepense to assess the Hymenoptera response to honeydew excreted by the sorghum aphid (SA), Melanaphis sorghi. Five genera of insects, including bees, hoverflies, and earwigs, were observed feeding on pollen in sweet sorghum, with differences observed by date, but not plant height or panicle length. Nearly 2000 Hymenoptera belonging to 29 families were collected from grain sorghum with 84% associated with aphid infestations. About 4 times as many Hymenoptera were collected in SA infested sorghum with significantly more ants, halictid bees, scelionid, sphecid, encyrtid, mymarid, diapriid and braconid wasps were found in infested sorghum plots. In Johnsongrass plots, 20 times more Hymenoptera were collected from infested plots. Together, the data suggest that sorghum is serving as a pollen food source for hoverflies, earwigs, and bees and sorghum susceptible to SA could provide energy from honeydew. Future research should examine whether planting strips of susceptible sorghum at crop field edges would benefit Hymenoptera and pollinators. MDPI 2022-12-14 /pmc/articles/PMC9780982/ /pubmed/36555062 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects13121152 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Harris-Shultz, Karen R.
Armstrong, John Scott
Caballero, Michael
Hoback, William Wyatt
Knoll, Joseph E.
Insect Feeding on Sorghum bicolor Pollen and Hymenoptera Attraction to Aphid-Produced Honeydew
title Insect Feeding on Sorghum bicolor Pollen and Hymenoptera Attraction to Aphid-Produced Honeydew
title_full Insect Feeding on Sorghum bicolor Pollen and Hymenoptera Attraction to Aphid-Produced Honeydew
title_fullStr Insect Feeding on Sorghum bicolor Pollen and Hymenoptera Attraction to Aphid-Produced Honeydew
title_full_unstemmed Insect Feeding on Sorghum bicolor Pollen and Hymenoptera Attraction to Aphid-Produced Honeydew
title_short Insect Feeding on Sorghum bicolor Pollen and Hymenoptera Attraction to Aphid-Produced Honeydew
title_sort insect feeding on sorghum bicolor pollen and hymenoptera attraction to aphid-produced honeydew
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9780982/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36555062
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects13121152
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