Biocontrol Science and Technology (2020) 30, 602-608

Lorena Hernández-Melchor, Juan J. Ramírez-Santiago, Gabriel Mercado and Trevor Williams (2020)
Vertical dispersal of nucleopolyhedrovirus occlusion bodies in soil by the earthworm Amynthas gracilus: a field-based estimation
Biocontrol Science and Technology 30 (6), 602-608
Abstract: The soil is the most important environmental reservoir for nucleopolyhedrovirus occlusion bodies (OBs). We employed a diet + soil bioassay technique to demonstrate that the earthworm Amynthas gracilus was capable of vertical transport of Spodoptera frugiperda multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus (SfMNPV) occlusion bodies (OBs) under field conditions. Incubation of OBs with earthworms in sand did not adversely affect the prevalence of virus-induced mortality, but variation in insect mortality was markedly increased, possibly due to changes in the particle size distribution following earthworm processing of OB-contaminated sand. We conclude that earthworms are likely to interact frequently with soil OB populations.
(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): Trevor Williams

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
biocontrol - natural enemies
Research topic(s) for beneficials or antagonists:
environment/habitat manipulation
population dynamics/epizootiology

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Spodoptera frugiperda
Alphabaculovirus spofrugiperdae (entomopathogen)