Abstract
Banker plants are non-crop plants that sustain populations of biological control agents prior to pest outbreaks, offering a preventive strategy within integrated pest management (IPM). Their benefits have primarily been attributed to top-down regulation via natural enemy-mediated pest suppression; however, their potential bottom-up effects remain largely unexplored. Here, we show that airborne cues emitted from banker plants infested with the zoophytophagous mirid bug Nesidiocoris tenuis altered the performance of the two-spotted spider mite Tetranychus urticae on neighboring tomato plants Solanum lycopersicum. Exposure to airborne cues from infested sesame Sesamum indicum significantly reduced mite fecundity, whereas those from tomato and spider flower Cleome hassleriana had no detectable effect, indicating that the induction of crop resistance is dependent on banker plant species. Moreover, T. urticae infestation of banker plants consistently suppressed mite oviposition on neighboring tomato plants across all banker plant species tested. These findings suggest that banker plants can exert previously unrecognized bottom-up effects by modulating crop resistance-related responses through airborne cues. Therefore, selecting banker plant species that emit effective airborne cues may strengthen crop protection and stabilize biological control performance in sustainable IPM strategies.
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Claims 5
Claim · model-written summary
Airborne cues from sesame infested by Nesidiocoris tenuis significantly reduced Tetranychus urticae fecundity on tomato.
- Taxon
- Solanum lycopersicum
Solanum lycopersicume0 - Treatment
- airborne cues from infested sesame Sesamum indicume3
- Interactor
- Tetranychus urticae
.jpg?width=60)
Tetranychus urticaee1pest - Second interactor
- Nesidiocoris tenuis
Nesidiocoris tenuise2biocontrol_agent - Outcome
- mite fecunditye3
- Direction
- reducede3
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
.jpg?width=500)
Verbatim
e0“tomato plants Solanum lycopersicum”
e1“the two-spotted spider mite Tetranychus urticae”
e2“zoophytophagous mirid bug Nesidiocoris tenuis”
e3“Exposure to airborne cues from infested sesame Sesamum indicum significantly reduced mite fecundity, whereas those from tomato and spider flower Cleome hassleriana had no detectable effect”
Claim · model-written summary
Airborne cues from tomato and spider flower Cleome hassleriana had no detectable effect on Tetranychus urticae fecundity.
- Taxon
- Solanum lycopersicumSolanum lycopersicume0
- Treatment
- tomato and spider flower Cleome hasslerianae3
- Interactor
- Tetranychus urticaeTetranychus urticaee1pest
- Outcome
- mite fecunditye3
- Direction
- no detectable effecte3
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“tomato plants Solanum lycopersicum”
e1“the two-spotted spider mite Tetranychus urticae”
e3“Exposure to airborne cues from infested sesame Sesamum indicum significantly reduced mite fecundity, whereas those from tomato and spider flower Cleome hassleriana had no detectable effect”
Claim · model-written summary
Tetranychus urticae infestation of banker plants consistently suppressed mite oviposition on neighbouring tomato.
- Taxon
- Solanum lycopersicumSolanum lycopersicume0
- Treatment
- T. urticae infestation of banker plantse4
- Interactor
- T. urticaeTetranychus urticaee4pest
- Outcome
- mite ovipositione4
- Direction
- suppressede4
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“tomato plants Solanum lycopersicum”
e4“T. urticae infestation of banker plants consistently suppressed mite oviposition on neighboring tomato plants across all banker plant species tested”
Claim · model-written summary
The induction of crop resistance depends on the banker plant species.
- Taxon
- Solanum lycopersicumSolanum lycopersicume0
- Treatment
- banker plant speciese5
- Outcome
- induction of crop resistancee5
Not reportedDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“tomato plants Solanum lycopersicum”
e5“the induction of crop resistance is dependent on banker plant species”
Claim · model-written summary
Selecting banker plant species that emit effective airborne cues may strengthen crop protection.
Verbatim
e6“selecting banker plant species that emit effective airborne cues may strengthen crop protection”
The same questions in other papers
infection · Tetranychus urticae · Solanum lycopersicum (tomato)Positive and negative results
1 in the opposite direction
- negative
infection · pest · Solanum lycopersicum (tomato)Positive and negative results
9 papers in the same direction as this paper · 5 in the opposite direction · 1 reporting no difference from an alternative
- negative
- no effect
- negative
12 papers more in this group
See all 16 papers →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.