An invertebrate harmfulness scale for research on plant pest diversity and impacts

ABSTRACT

Traditional methods of quantifying the harmful effects of invertebrates on plants require time-consuming identification of large numbers of individuals at species level. Collected specimens usually are killed; this may be unacceptable for some strictly protected species and may bias the results of subsequent surveys at the same site.

We developed a “harmfulness scale” for quick, non-invasive assessment of invertebrate impacts on plants, and used the scale to test differences in invertebrate attack on species of Balsaminaceae, Polygonaceae and Asteraceae growing in lowland and mountains in Poland. In 2010–2011, we recorded 9190 invertebrates and identified them in situ to family or superfamily level. Among them were 7593 pests, accounting for 82.6% of all recorded organisms. Pests were three times more numerous in the mountains than in the lowland. Balsaminaceae were most heavily attacked by pests (92.9% of all organisms detected on them). Aphidoideae were the most numerous pests.

This method can help reduce the costs and labour required for this type of research, facilitating progress in theoretical biology and in the development of practical phytosanitary measures.

KEYWORDS:

• Plant–pest interaction
• pests of plants
• pest impact
• plant protection
• invasive alien plants
• Enemy Release Hypothesis

Acknowledgments

We thank Dorota Lachowska-Cierlik, Lukasz Przybyłowicz, Paweł Adamski and Andrzej Kosior for their help in developing the harmfulness scale and for identifying problematic invertebrates, and Magdalena Lenda for very useful remarks on the manuscript. Michael Jacobs line-edited the paper for submission.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

National Science Centre Małopolska Province Stipend Fund This work was supported by the National Science Centre [grants number N N304 326036, 2011/03/B/NZ9/04042]; Doctus, the Małopolska Province Stipend Fund for Doctoral Candidates, under application ZS.4112-125/11.