The present study investigated egg parasitoid interspecific interactions between a generalist, Ooencyrtus nezarae Ishii (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) and a specialist, Paratelenomus saccharalis Dodd (Hymenoptera: Platygastridae) in a laboratory setting u...
Bemisia tabaci is a major pest of open-field melons in Mediterranean regions. Combining several species of natural enemies can improve pest control but it can give undesirable results when the species engage in antagonistic interactions. This study e...
The ladybird Cryptolaemus montrouzieri and the green lacewing Chrysoperla carnea have shown potential for use in augmentative biological control of mealybug pests in greenhouse crops. In the context of combining these predators within an integrated p...
The use of more than one species to manage a single insect pest is a common practice among biological control programs. However, the beneficial effects of natural enemies are not always additive, which in many cases may be attributed to interspecific...
Understanding how carnivores coexist is central to ecological theory and conservation. Coexistence among sympatric species arises through niche partitioning across spatial, temporal, and trophic dimensions, yet these mechanisms remain poorly explored...
Species sharing the same trophic level can interact not only through competition for resources but also through intraguild predation (IGP). Therefore, an important step toward implementing successful multiple predator releases in biological control s...
The fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), is a maize pest worldwide. Its host range comprises more than 350 reported plant species, and it is the primary insect pest attacking maize in Florida. Global trade has n...
Natural enemy guilds normally forage for prey that is patchily distributed simultaneously. Previous studies have investigated the influence of conspecific interactions and prey distribution on the functional response of natural enemies. However, litt...
Amphipods are a key component of aquatic ecosystems due to their distribution, abundance and ecological role. They also serve as hosts for many micro- and macro-parasites. The importance of parasites and the necessity to include them in ecological st...
In terrestrial mammalian carnivore guilds, interspecific competitions (interferences and resource competitions) among sympatric species induce their ecological and behavioral patterns and population dynamics, thereby shaping community structures. Com...
The Integrated Pest Management (IPM) approach have been widely promoted and used for the management of native and invasive pests, while the use of various components of the IPM can have a synergetic, additive, or antagonistic effect on each other; th...
Extreme habitats often harbor specific communities that differ substantially from non-extreme habitats. In many cases, these communities are characterized by archaea, bacteria and protists, whereas the number of species of metazoa and higher plants i...
Our study investigates predation among sympatric owl species in the Judea Region, specifically focusing on the predation by Eurasian Eagle Owls (Bubo bubo) on smaller owl species. Field observations conducted between 2006 and 2009 revealed recurrent...
The complex relationship between ecosystem function and soil food web structure is governed by species interactions, many of which remain unmapped. Phagotrophic protists structure soil food webs by grazing the microbiome, yet their involvement in int...
Scavenging guilds often have several trophic levels with varying dominance and intra-guild predation, competition, and interaction. Apex predators can control subordinate predators by limiting their numbers and affecting behaviour but also supply a c...
Intraguild predation interactions have substantial theoretical and practical implications for the dynamics of natural competitor populations used for biological control. Intraguild predation on parasitized aphids not only has a direct, negative effec...
Intraguild predation (IGP) is a ubiquitous, important and common interaction that occurs in aphidophagous guilds. The effects of extraguild prey (EGP, i.e., aphids) density, predator life stage combinations and duration of the interaction on the leve...
In biological control, joint releases of predators and parasitoids are standard. However, intraguild predation (IGP) can occur when a predator attacks a parasitoid, potentially affecting pest control dynamics. In addition to the focal prey (FP), Tria...
Several phytophagous thrips can act as facultative predators within arthropod food webs, and this trophic flexibility may shape pest population dynamics when thrips co-occur with spider mites or conspecific competitors on shared host plants. Here we...
The ladybirds Coccinella septempunctata and Harmonia axyridis are important biocontrol agents for the small walnut aphid Chromaphis juglandicola, a key walnut pest. C. juglandicola outbreaks occur in walnut orchards, and walnut yields have declined....
Intra-guild interactions related to facilitation and competition can be strong forces structuring ecological communities and have been suggested as particularly prominent for large carnivores. The African lion (Panthera leo) is generally thought to b...
Organic crop production systems are designed to enhance or preserve the presence of natural enemies, including parasitoids and predators, by means of conservation biological control, which involves providing environments and habitats that sustain nat...
(1) Diffuse competition affects per capita rates of population increase among species that exploit similar resources, and thus can be an important structuring force in ecological communities. Diffuse competition has traditionally been studied within...
(1) Background: The effects of density and the habitat conditions on the prey vulnerability in the Intraguild Predation (IGP) system were evaluated using the water bug D. rusticus as the top predator. (2) Methods: Using two different density levels (...
Mesocarnivores play essential roles in terrestrial ecosystems, but anthropocentric disturbances have profoundly transformed their intraguild interactions worldwide. In this study, we explored how a guild of four mesocarnivores (red fox Vulpes vulpes,...
Understanding interactions among sympatric mesocarnivore populations is essential for making sound management decisions. The golden jackal has rapidly expanded in Europe, raising questions about its potential intraguild effects. Using long-term hunti...
In this study, we aimed to investigate, through high-resolution metagenomics and metatranscriptomics, the composition and the trajectories of microbial communities originating from a natural sample, fed exclusively with methane, over 14 weeks of labo...
The food web of Lake Kinneret contains intraguild predation (IGP). Predatory invertebrates and planktivorous fish both feed on herbivorous zooplankton, while the planktivorous fish also feed on the predatory invertebrates. In this study, a complex me...
Disruptive selection arises when extreme phenotypes have a fitness advantage compared to more-intermediate phenotypes. Theory and evidence suggest that intraspecific resource competition is a key driver of disruptive selection. However, while competi...
Over recent decades, intraguild predation (IGP) has attracted special attention, both from the theoretical and practical standpoints. The present paper addresses the interference competition between two Trichogramma species (egg parasitoids)—on...
Complex interspecific relationships between parasites and their insect hosts involve multiple factors and are affected by their ecological and evolutionary context. A parasitoid Sclerodermus guani (Hymenoptera: Bethylidae) and an entomopathogenic fun...
The promotion of native vegetation as a habitat for natural enemies, which could increase their abundance and fitness, is especially useful in highly simplified settings such as Mediterranean greenhouse landscapes. Spiders as generalist predators may...
Following its recent invasion of African countries, fall armyworm (FAW), Spodoptera frugiperda (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), now co-exists with resident stemborers such as Busseola fusca (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) and Chilo partellus (Lepidoptera: Crambida...
The fall armyworm (FAW), Spodoptera frugiperda, has become one of the most important pests on corn in China since it invaded in 2019. Although FAW has not been reported to cause widespread damage to rice plants in China, it has been sporadically foun...
Outbreaks of the Nearctic leafhopper Erasmoneura vulnerata represent a threat to vinegrowers in Southern Europe, in particular in North-eastern Italy. The pest outbreaks are frequent in organic vineyards because insecticides labeled for organic vitic...
The widespread development of acaricide resistance in the two-spotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae, has intensified the need for sustainable pest management strategies. This narrative review examines phytoseiid predatory mites and essential oils...
Natural aquatic sites are disappearing worldwide, especially in the Mediterranean region where amphibians are frequently forced to move for reproduction to artificial sites designed for irrigation and cattle watering (i.e., wells, tanks and drinking...
Sweet pepper is a crop that benefits from phytosanitary treatments with low environmental impact, especially the successful control of pests through the introduction of biological control agents in greenhouses. However, predators that naturally occur...