Communication Dans Un Congrès Année : 2023

Fallen fruit: a back-up resource shaping fruit fly communities

Résumé

Most research on insect pests focuses on crops of interest for human consumption, and generally neglects the post-harvest period when decaying fruit lay on the ground. However, fallen fruit represent an important feeding and breeding substrate for insects, especially members of the family Drosophilidae. They could also represent a potential reservoir when primary host fruit become scarce, providing a seasonal refuge and potentially fueling pest outbreaks. The seasonal dynamics of the Drosophilidae community has been poorly studied. Recently, two important invasive species, Drosophila suzukii and Chymomyza amoena, appeared in Europe. These two invasive fruit flies are expected to alter this community composition and could benefit from fallen fruit. In this study, we aimed to disentangle the relative roles of microclimatic, landscape and local factors driving the diversity of the Drosophilidae community in decaying fruit across seasons. Each month, from September 2021 to April 2022, we collected fallen apples at 19 sites in the Amiens region in northern France. We used linear mixed models to investigate the effects of landscape, local biotic and abiotic variables, including microclimatic variables, as well as apple tree and fruit traits, on the number of emerging Drosophilidae adults. Mean daily site temperature during the week preceding sampling and the proportion of rotten tissue on the apples had the strongest positive effects on Drosophilidae abundance and species richness, respectively. Drosophilidae diversity also increased with tree cover in a 100 m radius around sampled trees. Decaying apples were important breeding sites for C. amoena dominating the community in autumn, but they were a suboptimal substrate for D. suzukii, which were only present in late summer. This research sheds light on the role of the Drosophilidae community in recycling agricultural waste, as well as the importance of unharvested fallen crop fruit in maintaining the diversity of an insect family, that are often neglected in field studies. Our data also show the importance of taking into account multiple scales and factors, from fruit characteristics to landscape composition and macro- and microclimatic variables, when studying the interactions between invasive species, native species and their shared trophic resources.

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Dates et versions

hal-04221038 , version 1 (28-09-2023)

Identifiants

  • HAL Id : hal-04221038 , version 1

Citer

Gwenaëlle Deconninck, Méghan Boulembert, Patrice Eslin, Aude Couty, Françoise Dubois, et al.. Fallen fruit: a back-up resource shaping fruit fly communities. Ento23, Royal Entomological Society, Sep 2023, Falmouth, United Kingdom. ⟨hal-04221038⟩
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