תוצאות חיפוש: אלי הררי

Foraging behavior for hosts in parasitoids resembles that of predators with respect to finding, evaluating and manipulating of the prey. Host handling time may depend on the life history of the parasitoid and can be affected by oviposition experience. Additionally, handling time can be affected by host aggregation, species, size and state (parasitized or not). We studied handling times in the egg-larval parasitoid wasp Copidosoma koehleri. 

We modeled the possible effect of limited kin discrimination on larval aggression in polyembryonic wasps. In these organisms, each egg divides clonally to produce several genetically identical embryos inside an arthropod host. If more than one egg is laid inside a host (superparasitism), several clones compete for the host resources. In some species, a proportion of embryos develop into sterile soldier larvae that attack competitors inside the host.

Brood size has important implications for the fitness of both parents and offspring. In polyembryonic parasitoid wasps, each egg develops into many genetically identical embryos through clonal division inside the host. Thus, offspring may have the potential to affect brood size by adjusting the degree of embryonic division. We investigated the effect of relatedness between competing clones on brood size in the polyembryonic wasp Copidosoma koehleri.

Diversification of vegetation within and around agricultural habitats is an effective strategy to support populations of natural enemies of crops’ pests. Such diversification can be achieved by conservation of natural vegetation that develops spontaneously around the plots, as well as by active introduction of companion plants to the crop. In this study we compared these two approaches in pomegranate orchards in Mediterranean climate.