Johannes LM SteidleUniversity of Hohenheim · Department of Animal Ecology
Johannes LM Steidle
Prof. Dr.
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Introduction
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March 2003 - January 2017
Publications
Publications (121)
The negative impact of pesticides on the environment and the potential of pest species to develop pesticide resistance make it necessary to explore new methods of pest control. Pheromones and other behavior-modifying semiochemicals are already important in integrated pest management (IPM). (E)-ß-farnesene (EBF) is a semiochemical that acts as an al...
Although microhymenoptera are highly abundant in all terrestrial ecosystems, they are overlooked in most of insect monitoring studies due to their small-size and demanding identification linked with lack of taxonomic experts. Until now, it is unclear to what extent microhymenoptera are affected by insect decline, as there is a huge knowledge gap on...
The worldwide decline of insects is one of the major challenges for humankind. One of its main drivers is intensive farming, which reduces habitats and food resources for insect populations and causes direct mortality by pesticides. In addition, mowing of grassland poses another threat to insects, especially when it is done frequently, such as in r...
The pteromalid parasitoid Lariophagus distinguendus (Foerster) belongs to the Hymenoptera, a megadiverse insect order with high cryptic diversity. It attacks stored product pest beetles in human storage facilities. Recently, it has been shown to consist of two separate species. To further study its cryptic diversity, strains were collected to compa...
Wiesen und Weiden (Grünland) sind vom Menschen geschaffene Agrarflächen, die unter-schiedlich-intensiv bis extensiv-bewirtschaftet werden. In Deutschland finden sich etwa ein Drittel dieser Flächen als Dauergrünland. Je nach Nutzungsintensität und-form stellt Dauer-grünland einen wichtigen Lebensraum vieler Tier-und Pflanzenarten dar und kann entsc...
Meadows and pastures (grassland) are man-made agricultural areas that are managed intensively to extensively. In Germany, about one third of these areas is permanent grassland. Depending on the intensity and form of use, permanent grassland represents important habitat for many plant and animal species and can decisively contribute to the preservat...
Insect-friendly mowing techniques may have the potential to be an important element of measures to combat the observed decline of insects in grassland. In this context, a shift towards insect-friendly management of roadsides presents an opportunity for insect conservation and protection in view of the size and potential corridor function of such ar...
Cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI) is a form of reproductive manipulation caused by maternally inherited endosymbionts infecting arthropods, like Wolbachia, whereby matings between infected males and uninfected females produce few or no offspring. We report the discovery of a new CI symbiont, a strain of Spiroplasma causing CI in the parasitoid wasp...
Native seeds – opportunity or risk for biodiversity conservation? A thesis paper on the implementation of § 40 BNatSchG
According to § 40 BNatSchG, since March 2020 only plants that “have
their genetic origin in the area concerned” may be spread in the wild.
This article discusses possibilities for implementing this regulation with regard to the...
Dalopius marginatus (L.) (Coleoptera: Elateridae) is a common click beetle species developing in forest soils in an area from southwest Europe to eastern Siberia. Here, we studied the composition of the female‐released sex pheromone of D. marginatus using coupled gas chromatography‐mass spectrometry (GC‐MS). Neryl octanoate, neryl decanoate, and ne...
An underestimated factor that contributes to the decline of insects observed during the last year is probably the mortality, which is caused by mowing of grassland. We studied the negative impact of mowing on the arthropod fauna of roadside grassland, which might serve as potential habitat for insects to prevent their local extinction and as corrid...
Agriotes pilosellus is a fairly common click beetle species distributed in open deciduous and mixed forests throughout a large area in Europe. To identify its sex pheromone, gland extracts of female beetles were analyzed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The only volatile compounds present in the extracts were geranyl butanoate an...
Background
To understand which reproductive barriers initiate speciation is a major question in evolutionary research. Despite their high species numbers and specific biology, there are only few studies on speciation in Hymenoptera. This study aims to identify very early reproductive barriers in a local, sympatric population of Nasonia vitripennis...
The drastic loss of insect biomass and diversity threatens the function of ecosystems and critical ecosystem services. The destruction of habitats is the most important reason for this development. In central Europe, habitat destruction is primarily caused by the industrial agriculture. However, on a local scale the ongoing urbanization is also pla...
Das Sterben der Insekten ist kein neues Thema. Wer-wie die beiden Autoren-seit Jahrzehnten drau-ßen unterwegs ist, hat ihren drastischen Niedergang hautnah erlebt, und die Klage über das Schwinden der Schmetterlinge begleitet uns seit Jahrzehnten. Die eigentlich interessante Frage ist also: Wie wurde das Insektensterben zum «Thema», das den giganti...
Karyotypes of two cryptic species of parasitoid Hymenoptera with n = 5 and 6 belonging to the Lariophagus distinguendus (Förster, 1841) complex, which includes cosmopolitan parasitoids of coleopteran stored-product pests, were studied using glass-needle based microdissection, reverse and cross-species fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH). This...
Karyotypes of two cryptic species of parasitoid Hymenoptera with n = 5 and 6 belonging to the Lariophagus distinguendus (Förster, 1841) complex, which includes cosmopolitan parasitoids of coleopteran stored-product pests, were studied using glass-needle based microdissection, reverse and cross-species fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH). This...
Abstract The reproductive barriers that prevent gene flow between closely related species are a major topic in evolutionary research. Insect clades with parasitoid lifestyle are among the most species‐rich insects and new species are constantly described, indicating that speciation occurs frequently in this group. However, there are only very few s...
Insekten sind weltweit die artenreichste Tiergruppe und für die Funktion von Ökosystemen unerlässlich. Der dramatische Rückgang der Insekten hat in Mitteleuropa
inzwischen alarmierende Ausmaße erreicht. Er ist Anzeichen einer globalen Biodiversitätskrise, die sich bereits seit Jahrzehnten abgezeichnet hat und die unabsehbare ökonomische und ökologi...
Several strains of the apparently well-known cosmopolitan synanthropic parasitoid of coleopteran stored-product pests, Lariophagus distinguendus (Förster, 1841) from Western Europe, were studied using DNA sequencing and chromosomal analysis. The presence of at least two cryptic species with different COI sequences and chromosome numbers (n = 5 and...
Abstract After the first detection of the Asian bush mosquito Aedes japonicus japonicus in the year 2000 in France, its invasive nature was revealed in 2008 in Switzerland and Germany. In the following years, accumulating reports have shown that Ae. j. japonicus succeeded in establishing in several European countries. Surveillance efforts suggest t...
Parasitoids can suppress populations of their host and thus play a primary role in Integrated Pest Management. We studied foraging cues in Holepyris sylvanidis (Hymenoptera: Bethylidae), a larval parasitoid of Tribolium species, in a four-chamber olfactometer. H. sylvanidis is reported as a cosmopolitan parasitoid of Coleopteran including two major...
Parasitoids can suppress populations of their host and thus play a primary role in Integrated Pest Management. The parasitic wasp Cephalonomia waterstoni Gahan (Hymenoptera: Bethylidae) is a natural enemy of the rusty grain beetle Cryptolestes ferrugineus (Stephens) (Coleoptera: Cucujidae). In the stored product environment, stimuli deriving from p...
Zusammenfassung
Sexualpheromone spielen vor allem bei Insekten für das Auffinden sowie die Stimulation von Paarungsbereitschaft zwischen arteigenen Paarungspartnern eine bedeutende Rolle. Vom Menschen werden Sexualpheromone bislang fast ausschließlich für die gezielte biologische Bekämpfung von Schädlingen eingesetzt. Darüber hinaus sind Sexualpher...
Grundlegend für die biologische Bekämpfung von Vorratsschädlingen ist das Monitoring der Schädlingspopulationen. Im Rahmen eines Projektes zur Bekämpfung von Vorratsschädlingen in Getreidelagern mit Nützlingen wurde die Phänologie der Dörrobstmotte Plodia interpunctella in verschiedenen Getreidelagern untersucht. Dazu wurden verschiedene Techniken...
Legal requirements and consumer demands for residue-free products pose a big challenge for pest control in grain stores. One possible alternative to chemical insecticides is biological pest control with the pteromalid wasp Lariophagus distinguendus against the weevils Sitophilus granarius, S. oryzae (Coleoptera: Dryophtoridae), and many other stora...
Legal requirements and consumer demands for residue-free products pose a big challenge
for pest control in grain stores. One possible alternative to chemical insecticides is biological pest
control with the pteromalid wasp Lariophagus distinguendus against the weevils Sitophilus granarius,
S. oryzae (Coleoptera: Dryophtoridae), and many other stora...
As dead wood is ephemeral, saproxylic insect species must be able to effectively locate new resources via, e.g. olfactory cues.
Although saproxylic flat bugs feed on fungal mycelia, published evidence points to their use of dead wood‐specific volatile cues rather than fungal‐specific cues for long‐distance orientation towards new habitat patches.
T...
The entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium anisopliae is used as a biological pest control agent against various arthropod species, including ticks. However, the efficacy depends on tick species, tick stage and fungus strain. We studied the effect of M. anisopliae on engorged larvae and nymphs of Ixodes ricinus, the most abundant tick species in Europ...
We studied the ability of the parasitoid species Lariophagus distinguendus (Förster) and Anisopteromalus
calandrae (Howard) (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) to locate populations of the granary weevil Sitophilus granarius (L.) (Coleoptera: Dryophtoridae) in grain residues. Experiments were conducted under laboratory and storage-like conditions. Generall...
The click beetle Betarmon bisbimaculatus (Fabricius, 1803) (Coleoptera: Elateridae) has a scattered distribution throughout a large area in Europe and the near East. Due to its scarcity, little is known about the ecology, biology, and development of this peculiar species. Here, we studied the composition of the female-released sex pheromone of B. b...
Throughout the animal kingdom, sexual pheromones are used for the attraction of mates and as courtship signals but also enable sexual isolation between species. In the parasitic wasp
Lariophagus distinguendus
, male courtship behaviour consisting of wing fanning, antennal stroking of the female antenna, and head nodding stimulates female receptivit...
Figure S1: Setup for the experiment to test the volatility of a putative pheromone when the two couples were placed in direct neighbourhood to each other.
Video S1: Circular movement of male's antennae.
Video S2: Bending female antennae out of the V-shape by males antennal stroking behaviour.
Video S3: Contact between male's mandibular or labial pa...
This study aimed to investigate the poorly documented reproductive behaviour of the small hive beetle, Aethina tumida (Nitidulidae), a honey bee (Apis mellifera) parasite. We described the mating behaviour in detail and tested the hypothesis that beetle aggregation plays a vital role in mating in this species. Gender preference was examined in the...
A major C18-macrolide was found during analysis of the frass of the storage beetle Oryzaephilus surinamensis to be (9Z,12Z,15R)-octadeca-9,12-dien-15-olide (10, cucujolide XI). The synthesis used ring-closing alkyne metathesis as a key step. The highly active 2,4,6-trimethylbenzylidyne molybdenum complex [MesCMo{OC(CF3)2Me}3] (12) allowed the use o...
Despite sex pheromones being highly species specific, their use as phylogenetic characters and a tool for the verification of species status are still relatively few compared to use of morphological and molecular characters. Earlier studies revealed that within the click beetle species Idolus picipennis, two types can be separated based on pheromon...
We studied early memory in Nasonia vitripennis, a parasitoid of fly pupae and emerging model organism for ecological questions in the context of learning. After associative training consisting of one drilling experience in a host in the presence of cinnamon, females showed a preference to cinnamon for at least 24 h. To study sensitisation, wasps we...
Central to the concept of ecological speciation is the evolution of ecotypes, i.e. groups of individuals occupying different ecological niches. However, the mechanisms behind the first step of separation, the switch of individuals into new niches, are unclear. One long-standing hypothesis, which was proposed for insects but never tested, is that ea...
Long-term storages have special requirements to stored product protection. Therefore a three year project was established to improve and adjust existing biological control strategies to those conditions. To secure an early detection of pests especially of the granary weevil Sitophilus granarius, three different trap types were tested: plastic cups...
Despite the sanitary importance of the European house dust mite Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus (Trouessart, 1897), the pheromonal communication in this species has not been sufficiently studied. Headspace analysis using solid phase micro extraction (SPME) revealed that nerol, neryl formate, pentadecane, (6Z,9Z)-6,9-heptadecadiene, and (Z)-8-heptade...
Ticks and tick-borne diseases are of great significance for the health of humans and animals. However, the factors influencing their distribution and dynamics are inadequately known. In a project financed by the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of the Environment, Climate and Energy Industry, as part of the program BWPLUS, interdisciplinary specialists w...
Macrolide lactones, the so called cucujolides derived from unsaturated fatty acids, are aggregation pheromones of cucujid grain beetles. Thirty years ago, Oehlschlarger et al. showed that (3Z,6Z)-dodeca-3,6-dien-11-olide (4) and the respective 12-olide (7) attract the sawtoothed grain beetle Oryzaephilus surinamensis, whereas (5Z,8Z,13R)-tetradeca-...
Hintergrund Zecken sind die wichtigsten Vektoren zoonotischer Pathogene in Europa. Zu den von ihnen übertragen Erregern zählen eine Vielzahl an Bakterien, Viren und Protozoen, darunter die Erreger der Lyme-Borreliose (Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato) und der Frühsommer-Meningoenzephalitis (FSME-Virus). Das Vorkommen von Zecken und Zecken-übertragen...
The click beetle Idolus picipennis represents the only species of its genus in Europe, where it is widely distributed but is rare and only occurs locally. In order to identify its sex pheromone we investigated gland extracts of females from populations in southern Germany. GC/MS analyses revealed two distinct types of gland compositions that corres...
Reproduction of female Varroa destructor happens within the sealed brood cell of the honeybee host. The mating represents the last step of the reproductive cycle and is usually performed between the mature male offspring and one or more daughter mites. By offering solvent extracts of freshly molted females to male Varroa mites in our mating bioassa...
To improve the biological control of stored product pests, the present paper reports on the development of a rearing box for parasitoids of pest insects. The box contains breeding substrate and populations of hosts and parasitoids and is placed in storage sites, where parasitoids are released continuously over several months. The box was developed...
The parasitic wasp species Lariophagus distinguendus (Förster) (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) and Anisopteromalus calandrae (Howard) (Pteromalidae) are used for inoculation biological control of the granary weevil Sitophilus granarius (L.) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) in grain stores in Europe. To assess their suitability for biological control under e...
The beetle species Zyras collaris and Z. haworthi belong to the rove beetle tribe Myrmedoniini (Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae), which comprises many myrmecophilous species. Due to their rareness, it is unknown how the two species interact with their host ants. GC-MS analyses revealed that both species release α-pinene, β-pinene, myrcene and limonene...
Die Erzwespe Lariophagus distinguendus (Lagererzwespe) entwickelt sich als Ektoparasitoid an den Larven einer Reihe von Vorratsschädlingen. Daher wurde bereits 1919 durch Prof. Dr. Albrecht HASE an der Biologischen Reichs-anstalt für Land-und Forstwirtschaft ihre Verwendung zur Bekämpfung dieser Schädlinge vorgeschlagen. Nach russischen Arbeiten au...
Die Erzwespe Lariophagus distinguendus (Lagererzwespe)entwickelt sich als Ektoparasitoid an den Larven einer Reihe von Vorratsschädlingen. Daher wurde bereits 1919 durch Prof. Dr. AlbrechtHasean der Biologischen Reichsanstalt für Land- und Forstwirtschaft ihre Verwendung zur Bekämpfung dieser Schädlinge vorgeschlagen. Nach russischen Arbeiten aus d...
Most of our knowledge on learning and memory formation results from extensive studies on a small number of animal species. Although features and cellular pathways of learning and memory are highly similar in this diverse group of species, there are also subtle differences. Closely related species of parasitic wasps display substantial variation in...
For the reproductive success of the honeybee mite Varroa destructor, an effective coordination of host finding, oogenesis, and mating is crucial. In order to analyze the mites’ mating behavior and the involved cues, a new bioassay was designed and the male behavior towards different female stages compared. This bioassay represents a simple tool for...
We studied the formation of protein synthesis‐dependent long‐term memory (LTM) in the parasitic wasp Nasonia vitripennis Walker (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae), a parasitoid of fly pupae. Female wasps were trained in one of five different training procedures in the presence of hosts and the odour cinnamon. Six days later the reaction of the wasps towar...
The insect cuticle is covered by a thin layer of hydrocarbons not only preventing desiccation but also playing an important role in the sexual communication of several species. In the pteromalid wasp Lariophagus distinguendus, a parasitoid of grain infesting beetles, female cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs) elicit male courtship behaviour. We analyzed...
Eine Hauptschwierigkeit für Parasitoide besteht darin, passende Wirte zu lokalisieren. Häufig werden dafür Gerüche des Wirtskots oder der Fraßpflanzen verwendet. Diese Gerüche werden normalerweise durch Wind verbreitet. In geschlossenen Umgebungen, wie beispielsweise Getreidelagern, werden Duftstoffe jedoch hauptsächlich über Diffusionsprozesse ver...
Myrmecophiles, i.e., organisms associated with ants live in a variety of ecological niches in the vicinity or inside ant colonies
and employ different strategies to survive ant encounters. Because different niches are characterized by different encounter
rates with host ants, strategies used to avoid ant aggressions should depend on these niches. T...
Zecken sind nicht nur wichtige Ektoparasiten, sondern übertragen auch zahlreiche Krankheitserreger (Viren, Bakterien und Protozoen). Zu den wichtigsten Pathogenen, die von Zecken übertragen werden, gehören Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato, der Erreger der Lyme-Borreliose, und das FSME-Virus. In Baden-Württemberg durchgeführte Studien zur Borrelia- u...
The biological function of the abdominal gland of the rove beetle genus Bledius (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Oxytelinae) was examined using behavioural criteria. The attractant effect of the abdominal secretion on the Bledius predators Dyschirius obscurus and D. thoracicus (Carabidae), described in the literature, was identified as artificial. In ch...
Sex pheromones are used by a wide variety of species in terrestrial ecosystems. Much less is known about these pheromones
in aquatic systems e.g., for diving beetles. To test the use of pheromones and visual signals for mate finding by the diving
beetle Rhantus suturalis (MacLeay 1825), behavioral experiments were performed using three different ty...
The parasitic wasp Ixodiphagus hookeri parasitizes hard ticks and is therefore considered as a potential candidate for biological control of ticks. However, there are still considerable gaps of knowledge about the biology of I. hookeri, especially for European populations. Thus, the present study was performed to assess important life-history param...
The click beetle species Agriotes acuminatus is distributed in open deciduous forests throughout a large area in Europe. In order to identify its sex pheromone, gland extracts of female beetles were investigated by using GC/MS. Neryl butanoate and 2,6-dimethyl-(Z,E)-2,6-octadien-1,8-diol dihexanoate, in a ratio of approximately 1:5, were the only v...
The parasitic wasp Ixodiphagus hookeri Howard (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) parasitizes larvae and nymphs of a number of tick species worldwide. Ticks themselves are parasitic on vertebrate hosts. To study the specificity and reliability of vertebrate odours used by I. hookeri for host location, we conducted bioassays in a four-chamber olfactometer. Wa...
The parasitic wasp, Cephalonomia tarsalis (Hymenoptera: Bethylidae), parasitizes larvae of the sawtoothed grain beetle, Oryzaephilus surinamensis (L.) (Coleoptera: Silvanidae), and is used for biological control of this worldwide pest of stored grain. To study the hypothesis that C. tarsalis not only mates at its natal patch but also uses olfactory...
Associative learning of host-associated chemical cues was studied in Nasonia vitripennis, a parasitoid of fly pupae in nests of hole-nesting birds. When females encountered a fly pupa and performed one sequence of host recognition behaviour including drilling the ovipositor into the host in the presence of the artificial odour furfurylheptanoate (F...
Dieses Kapitel soll
› die molekularen Marker vorstellen, die in der Ökologie verwendet werden;
› zeigen, wie mit diesen Markern die genetischen Unterschiede innerhalb von Arten und zwischen Arten untersucht werden können;
› die Bedeutung des koevolutionären Wettrüstens zwischen Pflanzen und pflanzenfressenden Insekten und zwischen Parasiten und ihr...
The parasitic wasp Cephalonomia tarsalis parasitizes larvae of the saw-toothed grain beetle Oryzaephilus surinamensis, which feed on wheat grains. In contrast to most other host–parasitoid systems studied so far, the grain beetles are highly mobile within their habitat, bulk of grains in grain stores. This should increase the wasps’ problem to loca...
1. The freshwater leech, Erpobdella octoculata, is a generalist predator feeding on prey organisms such as Tubifex spp., Chironomus spp. and Asellus aquaticus. Using different experimental designs, we studied the use of foraging kairomones by the leeches for prey location.
2. Leeches were attracted to living as well as to freshly killed larvae of C...
In Central Europe, Lyme disease and tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) are transmitted by the tick Ixodes ricinus. In the last years, the prevalence of TBE virus in I. ricinus and also the number of human TBE infections have increased considerably in south-western Germany. A similar development is presumed for Borrelia burgdorferi s.l. For biocontrol of...
IntroductionTheories on the Use of Infochemicals for Location of Oviposition Sites by Natural EnemiesConcluding RemarksAcknowledgements
Males and females of the parasitic wasp Lariophagus distinguendus respond to volatiles emitted by the larval faeces of one of their hosts, the granary weevil Sitophilus granarius. Previous studies have shown that attractive chemicals are emitted by astigmatid mites living in the host faeces and that these cues are attractive only to experienced par...
The rare European click beetle, Elater ferrugineus L., develops exclusively in old, hollow deciduous trees. As a result of massive habitat loss caused by modern forestry, it is threatened throughout its entire distribution range and regarded as an indicator species for undamaged natural forests. As E. ferrugineus lives cryptically and its populatio...
By using chemical analyses, as well as laboratory and field behavioral tests, we tested the hypothesis that rove beetles of the myrmecophilous genus Pella use alarm pheromone compounds to avert attacks by their host ant Lasius fuliginosus. The secretions of Pellafunestus and P. humeralis contain quinones and different aliphatic compounds, mainly un...
Long-term memory (LTM) formation usually requires repeated, spaced learning events and is achieved by the synthesis of specific proteins. Other memory forms require a single learning experience and are independent of protein synthesis. We investigated in two closely related parasitic wasp species, Cotesia glomerata and Cotesia rubecula, whether nat...
