Performance of selected lines of Trichopria drosophilae and of Ganaspis brasiliensis on different fruit

A few generations of laboratory selection can increase the developmental success of native parasitoids on invasive targets. However, for this approach to be used more widely for biological control we need to understand if the improved performance of native species, achieved under artificial laboratory conditions, translates to improved control in more natural environments. It is also unknown what the biocontrol potential of laboratory selected generalist native parasitoids may be compared to co-evolved specialists that are typically introduced for biological control of invasive species. To assess how rearing in artificial diet affected host finding ability in natural hosts we used laboratory selected (adapted) and non-adapted populations of the generalist native parasitoid Trichopria drosophilae to parasitize the invasive fly, Drosophila suzukii in three different fruit types. In a separate experiment, we compared the effectiveness of adapted and non-adapted populations of T. drosophila...