Plant structural changes due to herbivory: Do changes in Aceria-infested coconut fruits allow predatory mites to move under the perianth?

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dc.contributor.authorMaurice W. Sabelis
dc.contributor.authorNayanie S. Aratchige
dc.contributor.authorIzabela Lesna
dc.date.accessioned2014-05-15T05:04:39Z
dc.date.available2014-05-15T05:04:39Z
dc.date.issued2007
dc.description.abstractBeing minute in size, eriophyoid mites can reach places that are small enough to be inaccessible to their predators. The coconut mite, Aceria guerreronis, is a typical example; it Wnds partial refuge under the perianth of the coconut fruit. However, some predators can move under the perianth of the coconut fruits and attack the coconut mite. In Sri Lanka, the phytoseiid mite Neoseiulus baraki, is the most common predatory mite found in association with the coconut mite. The cross-diameter of this predatory mite is c. 3 times larger than that of the coconut mite. Nevertheless, taking this predator’s Xat body and elongated idiosoma into account, it is—relative to many other phytoseiid mites—better able to reach the narrow space under the perianth of infested coconut fruits. On uninfested coconut fruits, however, they are hardly ever observed under the perianth. Prompted by earlier work on the accessibility of tulip bulbs to another eriophyoid mite and its predators, we hypothesized that the structure of the coconut fruit perianth is changed in response to damage by eriophyoid mites and as a result predatory mites are better able to enter under the perianth of infested coconut fruits. This was tested in an experiment where we measured the gap between the rim of the perianth and the coconut fruit surface in three cultivars (‘Sri Lanka Tall’, ‘Sri Lanka Dwarf Green’ and ‘Sri Lanka Dwarf Green £ Sri Lanka Tall’ hybrid) that are cultivated extensively in Sri Lanka. It was found that the perianth-fruit gap in uninfested coconut fruits was signiWcantly diVerent between cultivars: the cultivar ‘Sri Lanka Dwarf Green’ with its smaller and more elongated coconut fruits had a larger perianth-fruit gap. In the uninfested coconut fruits this gap was large enough for the coconut mite to creep under the perianth, yet too small for its predator N. baraki. However, when the coconut fruits were infested by coconut mites, the perianth-rim-fruit gap was not diVerent among cultivars and had increased to such an extent that the space under the perianth became accessible to the predatory mites.en_US
dc.identifier.citationExp Appl Acarol (2007) 43:97–107en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/123456789/1251
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.subjectEriophyidaeen_US
dc.subjectCoconut mitesen_US
dc.subjectCoconuten_US
dc.subjectPredatory mitesen_US
dc.subjectPhytoseiidaeen_US
dc.subjectPerianthen_US
dc.subjectInduced responseen_US
dc.subjectIndirect plant defenceen_US
dc.titlePlant structural changes due to herbivory: Do changes in Aceria-infested coconut fruits allow predatory mites to move under the perianth?en_US
dc.typeArticleen_US

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