Effects of anthropogenic change on interactions between North American tephritid flies and their biotic associates
type: CreativeWork
description: Anthropogenic environmental change is increasingly altering species ranges, community composition, and ecological interactions. Climate change, agriculture, invasive species, and human management of land all affect insect community dynamics, interactions between competitors and natural enemies, and invasive potential. In this thesis, I examine the effects of the following anthropogenic changes on tephritid fruit flies, Rhagoletis pomonella (Walsh) and Zonosemata electa (Say), and their competitors and natural enemies: climate change (simulated through an experimentally-induced heat effect), novel agricultural host plants, and land/weed management. R. pomonella is native to portions of North America and historically utilized hawthorn (Crataegus spp. (L.) fruits as its host. After the introduction of apples, a fruit larger than hawthorn berries, to North America by humans, R. pomonella made a host shift to apples, which provide a partial escape from natural enemies and competitors. Similarly, Z. electa made a host shift from native horsenettle, Solanum carolinense (L.)., fruits to introduced crops: peppers and eggplant. The first study employed experimental manipulation of temperature, sunlight, and fruit location to examine the effects of anthropogenic change and competition on parasitism, larval survival rates, and pupal weight in R. pomonella. The second study examined the effects of fruit location and trap baits (apples alone, apples with R. pomonella larvae, or R. pomonella pupae alone) on attraction to ants and also surveyed species composition in an unmanaged apple orchard. The third study surveyed Z. electa parasitism rates and infestation rates in S. carolinense. The results of the first study indicate that in R. pomonella the effects of temperature include lowering parasitism and larval survival rates, with interactions from the effects of competition. The results of the second study indicate that R. pomonella larvae are attractive to local ant species and t…
abstract: Anthropogenic environmental change is increasingly altering species ranges, community composition, and ecological interactions. Climate change, agriculture, invasive species, and human management of land all affect insect community dynamics, interactions between competitors and natural enemies, and invasive potential. In this thesis, I examine the effects of the following anthropogenic changes on tephritid fruit flies, Rhagoletis pomonella (Walsh) and Zonosemata electa (Say), and their competitors and natural enemies: climate change (simulated through an experimentally-induced heat effect), novel agricultural host plants, and land/weed management. R. pomonella is native to portions of North America and historically utilized hawthorn (Crataegus spp. (L.) fruits as its host. After the introduction of apples, a fruit larger than hawthorn berries, to North America by humans, R. pomonella made a host shift to apples, which provide a partial escape from natural enemies and competitors. Similarly, Z. electa made a host shift from native horsenettle, Solanum carolinense (L.)., fruits to introduced crops: peppers and eggplant. The first study employed experimental manipulation of temperature, sunlight, and fruit location to examine the effects of anthropogenic change and competition on parasitism, larval survival rates, and pupal weight in R. pomonella. The second study examined the effects of fruit location and trap baits (apples alone, apples with R. pomonella larvae, or R. pomonella pupae alone) on attraction to ants and also surveyed species composition in an unmanaged apple orchard. The third study surveyed Z. electa parasitism rates and infestation rates in S. carolinense. The results of the first study indicate that in R. pomonella the effects of temperature include lowering parasitism and larval survival rates, with interactions from the effects of competition. The results of the second study indicate that R. pomonella larvae are attractive to local ant species and t…
author: Giers, Corbyn Saoirse
language: en
keywords: Tephritidae, Rhagoletis pomonella, Zonosemata electa, tephritid, natural enemies, Solanum carolinense, apple maggot, climate change
date published: 2020-10-07T22:44:39Z
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:24:48Z
provider: University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/2142/108620