I have compared host selection of alate and apterous cotton aphid. Results showed some differences between alate and apterous cotton aphid.
Does other aphid also showed different host preference between alate and apterous ?
- Look for the work of Jim Hardie and Glen Powell and you will find some papers on this topic. Their research was on Aphid fabae, maybe other species too.
I think Paul hit the nail on the head. I can't say with any certainty how common it is for different stages of an aphid's life history to have different behavior/host plants but I can say with certainty that it is not rare.
Nevertheless, we find aphid on one host in one season and on the other one on the other season, moreover, occasionally, the apterous type gets wings when the host become unsuitable for their survival (e.g. host death or drying up), further sometime we see that some aphids do not always spend time on one host as asexual and migrate to the other one for sexual life (i.e. you may find sexual and asexual both on the same host as well.)
In your results of host selection, which showed some differences between alate and apterous cotton aphid. It might be due to various factors like availability of host, climatic factors especially temperature and RH. So you must verify through experimentation of the same under no choice and by choice methods during different seasons, then you can conclude precisely.
Dear all, sorry for late responding, according my knowledge and research which i found during my observation period it was almost more then 96% apterous , in all four aphid species which i was recorded during my research, may it will be different with other researcher data, but what I observed i share above. Regards
Dear Dr. Sakhidad Saleem, did you performed you experiments/observations in a glass house or semi-field conditions? If yes, it become quite explainable that in such circumstances the conditions persist in more suitable set, host remains s healthier than the actual field conditions, moreover, the environment does not change as such.
Dear M. Farhanullah khan, I did my research only on field, It will be better to performed experiments in different way for getting more knowledge and experience. but during study you have to follow your objectives.
in field research and observation it will be difficult to say about the host preference of alate and apterous aphids because first, you must know about the total number of aphids ( alate /apterous) second it should be one host, and finally no interference with host and plant with other insect. that is why I said it will be difficult to answer in field experiment.
- Badges
- Science method
- Similar topics
- Biological Science
- Ecology