Options
Title
Provisioning Australian Seed Carrot Agroecosystems with Non-Floral Habitat Provides Oviposition Sites for Crop-Pollinating Diptera
Fields of Research (FoR) 2008:
Author(s)
Publication Date
2023-05-04
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2008
Open Access
Yes
Abstract
<p>The addition of floral resources is a common intervention to support the adult life stages of key crop pollinators. Fly (Diptera) crop pollinators, however, typically do not require floral resources in their immature life stages and are likely not supported by this management intervention. Here, we deployed portable pools filled with habitat (decaying plant materials, soil, water) in seed carrot agroecosystems with the intention of providing reproduction sites for beneficial syrphid (tribe <i>Eristalini</i>) fly pollinators. Within 12 to 21 days after the pools were deployed, we found that the habitat pools supported the oviposition and larval development of two species of eristaline syrphid flies, <i>Eristalis tenax</i> (Linnaeus, 1758) and <i>Eristalinus punctulatus</i> (Macquart, 1847). Each habitat pool contained an average (±S.E.) of 547 ± 117 eristaline fly eggs and 50 ± 17 eristaline fly larvae. Additionally, we found significantly more eggs were laid on decaying plant stems and carrot roots compared to other locations within the pool habitat (e.g., on decaying carrot umbels, leaves, etc.). These results suggest that deploying habitat pools in agroecosystems can be a successful management intervention that rapidly facilitates fly pollinator reproduction. This method can be used to support future studies to determine if the addition of habitat resources on intensively cultivated farms increases flower visitation and crop pollination success by flies.</p>
Publication Type
Journal Article
Source of Publication
Insects, 14(5), p. 1-12
Publisher
MDPI AG
Place of Publication
Basel, Switzerland
ISSN
2075-4450
File(s)
Fields of Research (FoR) 2020
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2020
Peer Reviewed
Yes
HERDC Category Description
Peer Reviewed
Yes
Permanent link to this record