Longevity of hymenopteran parasitoids in natural vs. agricultural habitats and implications for biological control

Agricultural habitats are frequently disturbed, and disturbances could have large effects on species in upper trophic levels such as hymenopteran parasitoids that are important for biological control. A strategy for conservation biological control is to provide a diversified agricultural landscape which increases the availability of resources such as sugar required by parasitoid biological control agents. Here, we ask whether parasitoids occurring in agriculture benefit from sugar resources more or less than parasitoids occurring in natural habitats surrounding agricultural fields. We collected parasitoids from agricultural alfalfa fields, field margins and natural prairies, and in the lab we randomly divided them into two treatments: half were given a constant supply of a sugar source to test their residual lifespan, and half were given neither sugar nor water to test their hardiness. Collected individuals were monitored daily and their day of death recorded. Parasitoids receiving a su..., Adult parasitoids were collected using sweep nets from alfalfa fields, margins of alfalfa fields, and prairies at the Arlington Agricultural Research Station, the West Madison Agricultural Station, and the Goose Pond restored tallgrass prairies; these sites were in Dane and Columbia Counties, Wisconsin, USA.
Samples were collected from 13 alfalfa fields, nine in Arlington Agricultural Research Station and four in West Madison Agricultural Station. Field margins were sampled next to seven of the sampled alfalfa fields in Arlington and all four fields in West Madison and five restored tallgrass prairies, all in proximity to the Arlington Agricultural Research Station.
Each individual parasitoid was then transferred to a 100 x 15-mm petri dish and mortality was monitored daily. All collected parasitoids on a given sample date were randomly divided between two treatments: half had a drop of honey placed in the middle-upper part of the petri dish and no water, and half had no honey or water...., , # Data from: Longevity of hymenopteran parasitoids in natural vs. agricultural habitats and implications for biological control

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.kwh70rzck](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.kwh70rzck)

## Description of the data and file structure

Detailed explanation for the file Longevity_2021.csv:

Each row in the file represents one individual parasitoid wasp.

| Name in file | Detailed explanation |
| :--------------- | :----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| no | Number |
| Day | the day of the date of sampling |
| Month | the month of the date of sampling ...