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Stable isotopes as markers to investigate host use by Rhyzopertha dominica
Author(s) -
Mahroof Rizana M.,
Phillips Thomas W.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
entomologia experimentalis et applicata
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.765
H-Index - 83
eISSN - 1570-7458
pISSN - 0013-8703
DOI - 10.1111/j.1570-7458.2007.00618.x
Subject(s) - bostrichidae , biology , host (biology) , pest analysis , isotopes of carbon , field corn , botany , agronomy , ecology , zea mays , total organic carbon
Rhyzopertha dominica (F.) (Coleoptera: Bostrichidae) is a serious worldwide pest of stored cereal grains that also has the ability to breed in non‐agricultural host plant material. Stable isotope signatures (concentrations of isotopes) were used as internal tissue markers to determine dietary differences among adult R. dominica and to make inferences about source habitats of field‐trapped insects. Adult R. dominica collected near granaries or from non‐agricultural forested sites near Stillwater, OK, USA, and insects reared on selected hosts under laboratory conditions were studied to determine the carbon and nitrogen isotope signatures. Laboratory‐reared R. dominica showed δ 13 C (stable isotope ratio of carbon) values similar to the host on which they developed with an enrichment of about 1 in the insect body. Insects reared on seeds of wheat and oak, which have C 3 photosynthetic pathways, showed much depleted δ 13 C values (–23.7 and –26.2, respectively) in comparison to insects reared on seeds of corn, a C 4 photosynthetic plant (–11.3). A majority of the field‐collected R. dominica showed δ 13 C values similar to expectations for a C 3 host. However, a few field‐collected insects had δ 13 C signatures similar to the C 4 plant‐reared insects in the laboratory experiment. Stored grain of C 4 crops were lacking at many of the sample field sites. These results suggest that R. dominica occurs on either C 3 ‐ or C 4 ‐based hosts in the field, and point to utilization of non‐grain C 4 plants as hosts. Our studies indicated that 13 C isotope is a reliable marker to infer types of hosts used in the feeding history of R. dominica.