J 2016

Male-killing bacteria as agents of insect pest control

BEREC, Luděk, Daniel MAXIN and Veronika BERNHAUEROVÁ

Basic information

Original name

Male-killing bacteria as agents of insect pest control

Authors

BEREC, Luděk (203 Czech Republic), Daniel MAXIN (203 Czech Republic) and Veronika BERNHAUEROVÁ (203 Czech Republic, belonging to the institution)

Edition

Journal of Applied Ecology, HOBOKEN, WILEY-BLACKWELL, 2016, 0021-8901

Other information

Language

English

Type of outcome

Článek v odborném periodiku

Field of Study

10600 1.6 Biological sciences

Country of publisher

United States of America

Confidentiality degree

není předmětem státního či obchodního tajemství

Impact factor

Impact factor: 5.301

RIV identification code

RIV/00216224:14310/16:00094235

Organization unit

Faculty of Science

DOI

UT WoS

000380065600031

Keywords in English

Allee effect; biocontrol; eradication; insect pest control; male-killing bacteria; pest suppression; population model; sterile insect technique; vertical transmission; Wolbachia

Tags

Změněno: 11/5/2017 14:22, Ing. Andrea Mikešková

Abstract

V originále

Continual effort is needed to reduce the impact of exotic species in the context of increased globalization. Any innovation in this respect would be an asset. We assess the potential of combining two pest control techniques: the well-established sterile insect technique (SIT) and a novel male-killing technique (MKT), which comprises inoculation of a pest population with bacteria that kill the infected male embryos. Population models are developed to assess the efficiency of using the MKT for insect pest control, either alone or together with the SIT. We seek for conditions under which the MKT weakens requirements on the SIT. Regarding the SIT, we consider both non-heritable and inherited sterility. In both cases, the MKT and SIT benefit one another. The MKT may prevent the SIT from failing when not enough sterilized males are released due to high production costs and/or uncertainty on their mating ability following a high irradiation dose. Conversely, with already established SIT, pest eradication can be achieved after introduction of male-killing bacteria with lower vertical transmission efficiency than if the MKT was applied alone. For tephritid fruit flies with non-heritable sterility, maximal impact of the SIT is achieved when the released males are fully sterile. Conversely, for lepidopterans with inherited sterility, maximal impact of the SIT is achieved for intermediate irradiation doses. In both cases, increasing vertical transmission efficiency of male-killing bacteria benefits the SIT; high enough vertical transmission efficiency allows for pest eradication where the SIT is absent or induces only pest suppression when used alone.Synthesis and applications. While both techniques can suppress or eliminate the pest on their own, combined application of the male-killing technique and the sterile insect technique substantially increases pest control efficiency. If male-killing bacteria are already established in the pest, any assessment of the sterile insect technique needs to account for their presence; otherwise, management recommendations could be exaggerated and unnecessarily costly.