Abstract
Abstract Climate change leads to more frequent droughts that may alter multitrophic networks in agroecosystems by changing bottom-up and top-down effects on herbivorous insects. Yet, how bottom-up effects of drought alter tritrophic interactions remains poorly understood. This study investigated two intensities of drought stress in the tritrophic system consisting of sugar beet ( Beta vulgaris ), an aphid ( Aphis fabae ), and its parasitoid ( Aphidius colemani ). We thoroughly investigated each trophic level, examining the performance of plants, pest insects, and parasitoids, as well as the attraction of parasitoids to herbivore-induced plant volatiles (HIPVs). Drought stress negatively affected plant growth but benefited A. fabae, leading to faster development and a higher reproduction rate. Drought-stressed plants also emitted less plant volatiles, which resulted in reduced attraction of A. colemani to aphid-infested plants. Drought indirectly affected parasitoid performance, as evidenced by lower emergence rates and production of fewer females, although mummification rates were higher on drought-stressed plants. Reduced parasitoid attraction and performance on drought-stressed plants may exert lower top-down pressure on aphid populations. Combined with increased aphid performance, this may facilitate aphid outbreaks, which could further weaken drought-stressed plants. Our findings highlight the need to study multiple trophic levels and emphasize the importance of incorporating HIPVs and parasitoid attraction when assessing combined abiotic and biotic stresses in crops.
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Claims 7
Claim · model-written summary
Drought reduced sugar beet growth.
- Taxon
- sugar beet
Beta vulgaris subsp. vulgarise0 - Treatment
- Drought stresse1
- Outcome
- plant growthe1
- Direction
- negatively affectede1
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“sugar beet ( Beta vulgaris )”
e1“Drought stress negatively affected plant growth”
Claim · model-written summary
Drought accelerated A. fabae development.
- Taxon
- A. fabae
Aphis fabaee1 - Treatment
- Drought stresse2
- Interactor
- sugar beetBeta vulgaris subsp. vulgarise3herbivore
- Outcome
- developmente1
- Direction
- fastere1
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“an aphid ( Aphis fabae )”
e1“benefited A. fabae, leading to faster development and a higher reproduction rate”
e2“Drought stress negatively affected plant growth but benefited”
e3“sugar beet ( Beta vulgaris )”
Claim · model-written summary
Drought increased A. fabae reproduction rate.
- Taxon
- A. fabaeAphis fabaee1
- Treatment
- Drought stresse2
- Interactor
- sugar beetBeta vulgaris subsp. vulgarise3herbivore
- Outcome
- reproduction ratee0
- Direction
- highere0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“a higher reproduction rate”
e1“A. fabae”
e2“Drought stress negatively affected plant growth but benefited A. fabae”
e3“sugar beet ( Beta vulgaris )”
Claim · model-written summary
Drought-stressed sugar beet emitted fewer plant volatiles.
- Taxon
- sugar beetBeta vulgaris subsp. vulgarise1
- Treatment
- Drought-stressede0
- Outcome
- plant volatilese0
- Direction
- lesse0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Drought-stressed plants also emitted less plant volatiles”
e1“sugar beet ( Beta vulgaris )”
Claim · model-written summary
Reduced plant volatiles led to reduced A. colemani attraction to aphid-infested plants.
- Taxon
- sugar beetBeta vulgaris subsp. vulgarise1
- Interactor
- A. colemani
Aphidius colemanie0parasite - Outcome
- attraction of A. colemani to aphid-infested plantse0
- Direction
- reducede0
- Qualifier
- less plant volatilese0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Drought-stressed plants also emitted less plant volatiles, which resulted in reduced attraction of A. colemani to aphid-infested plants”
e1“sugar beet ( Beta vulgaris )”
Claim · model-written summary
Drought indirectly reduced parasitoid emergence rates and female production.
- Taxon
- Aphidius colemaniAphidius colemanie1
- Treatment
- Droughte0
- Outcome
- emergence rates and production of fewer femalese0
- Direction
- lowere0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Drought indirectly affected parasitoid performance, as evidenced by lower emergence rates and production of fewer females”
e1“Aphidius colemani”
Claim · model-written summary
Parasitoid mummification rates were higher on drought-stressed sugar beet.
- Taxon
- Aphidius colemaniAphidius colemanie1
- Interactor
- sugar beetBeta vulgaris subsp. vulgarise2host
- Outcome
- mummification ratese0
- Direction
- highere0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“mummification rates were higher on drought-stressed plants”
e1“Aphidius colemani”
e2“sugar beet ( Beta vulgaris )”
The same questions in other papers
drought · growth · Beta vulgaris (beet)Results differ
28 papers in the same direction as this paper · 8 in the opposite direction
- positive
- positive
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1 in the opposite direction
- positive
Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.