Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata (2014) 151, 11-18

Aurélie Ferrer, Dominique Mazzi and Silvia Dorn (2014)
Stay cool, travel far: cold-acclimated Oriental fruit moth females have enhanced flight performance but lay fewer eggs
Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata 151 (1), 11-18
Abstract: Acclimation to a particular environment may provide organisms with advantages in that environment. In species with multiple generations per year, acclimation may cause life-history traits to vary with season and between generations. We investigated flight performance, lifetime egg production, and longevity in relation to the temperature experienced during development and adulthood in the invasive moth pest Grapholita molesta (Busck) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae). We found that females that developed at low temperature had good flight abilities when they were flown at low, intermediate, and high temperatures. At high temperature, females that developed at high temperature did not outperform females that developed at low temperature. Flight performance was generally poor at low ambient temperature. Our findings suggest a beneficial acclimation effect, occurring at low temperature. Nonetheless, there were potential costs of development at low temperature: development took longer, resulting in smaller females, which laid fewer eggs. Given temporal and spatial temperature variability in the field, dispersal potential should not be considered homogeneous within populations or across generations. Our results suggest that the most favourable time periods for female dispersal are at the beginning and towards the end of the host crop growing season, which has potential implications for monitoring the occurrence and range expansion of this invasive pest species.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Link to article at publishers website
Database assignments for author(s): Dominique Mazzi, Silvia Dorn

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
environment - cropping system/rotation
general biology - morphology - evolution

---

Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Grapholita molesta