Stephane Boyer

University of Tours | UFR · Insect Biology Research Institute

The lack of understanding of complex food-web interactions has been a major gap in the history of biological control. In particular, a better understanding of the functioning of pest food-webs and how they vary between native and invaded geographical ranges is of prime interest for biological control research and associated integrated pest manageme...

Background Deciphering the amount of work provided by different co-authors of a scientific paper has been a recurrent problem in science. Despite the myriad of metrics available, the scientific community still largely relies on the position in the list of authors to evaluate contributions, a metric that attributes subjective and unfounded credit to...

The study of animal diets has benefited from the rise of high-throughput DNA sequencing applied to stomach content or faecal samples. The latter can be fresh samples used to describe recent meals, or older samples, which can inform about past feeding activities. For most invertebrates, however, it is difficult to access ‘historical’ samples, due to...

The use of DNA data is ubiquitous across animal sciences. DNA may be obtained from an organism for a myriad of reasons including identification and distinction between cryptic species, sex identification, comparisons of different morphocryptic genotypes or assessments of relatedness between organisms prior to a behavioural study. DNA should be obta...

Translocating subsets of functioning ecosystems from climatically unstable regions to more stable ones is proposed as a new conservation method targeting whole communities.

Microbes can be an important source of phenotypic plasticity in insects. Insect physiology, behaviour, and ecology are influenced by individual variation in the microbial communities held within the insect gut, reproductive organs, bacteriome, and other tissues. It is becoming increasingly clear how important the insect microbiome is for insect fit...

Following the introduction of new host plants, rapid evolutionary changes in invasive phytophagous insects can sometimes result in sympatric speciation. The underly- ing processes and facilitation factors are still to be investigated in detail. The role of hindgut microbiota is one of these factors. In this paper, we examined the differences in the...

Wild bees are known to be efficient pollinators of wild plants and cultivated crops and they are essential ecosystem service providers. However, wild bee populations have been suffering from significant declines in the last decades mainly due to the use of agrochemicals. Within this framework, we aimed to characterize wild bees' pollination spectru...

Wild bees are known to be efficient pollinators of wild plants and cultivated crops and they are essential ecosystem service providers. However, wild bee populations have been suffering from significant declines in the last decades mainly due to the use of agrochemicals. Within this framework, we aimed to characterize wild bees pollination spectrum...

Metabarcoding approaches are powerful tools to unravel trophic relationships between predators and prey. To apply metabarcoding analyses on invertebrate gut contents, specimens must be well preserved from DNA degradation, thus the trapping method should be selected accordingly. Dry pitfall traps are commonly assumed to provide a better DNA preserva...

The digestive capacity of organic compounds by the black soldier fly (BSF, Hermetia illucens, Diptera: Stratiomyidae, Linnaeus, 1758) is known to rely on complex larva-microbiota interactions. Although insect development is known to be a driver of changes of bacterial communities, the fluctuations along BSF life cycle in terms of composition and di...

In the original article,Box 1 was not printed in its entirety, and two references were badly quoted in page 3 of the pdf and were missing in the reference list.

Exotic lumbricid earthworms have had some limited success colonising productive agricultural pastures in New Zealand, in place of native megascolecid species that did not adapt to the conversion from native vegetation cover. Native earthworms in lowland intensively-farmed landscapes are now almost entirely restricted to small fragments of native ve...

To understand trophic interactions and the precise ecological role of each predatory species, it is important to know which arthropod and plant resources are used by generalist predators in agroecosystems. Molecular approaches, such as the use of high-throughput sequencing (HTS), play a key role in identifying these resources. This study develops a...

As top predators, seabirds can be indirectly impacted by climate variability and commercial fishing activities through changes in marine communities. However, high mobility and foraging behavior enable seabirds to exploit prey distributed patchily in time and space. Despite this environmental adaptability, seabirds are the world’s most threatened b...

Knowing which arthropod and plant resources are used by generalist predators in agroecosystems is important to understand trophic interactions and the precise ecological role of each predatory species. To achieve this objective, molecular approaches, such as the use of high-throughput sequencing (HTS) platforms are key. This study develops a multi-...

1. Invasive alien species can cause detrimental changes in native ecosystems, but our understanding of the interactions between multiple exotic species is limited. To evaluate the joint effect of multiple sympatric invaders on an ecosystem, we must first understand how they interact with each other. 2. Here, we quantified the spatial distribution,...

The study of animal diets has benefited from the rise of high-throughput DNA sequencing applied to stomach content or faecal samples. The latter can be fresh samples used to describe recent meals or older samples, which can provide information about past feeding activities. For most invertebrates, however, it is difficult to access ‘historical’ sam...

As top predators, seabirds are directly impacted by any changes in marine communities, whether they are linked to climate change or caused by commercial fishing activities. However, their high mobility allows them to adapt to changing conditions. For example, seabirds can adapt their foraging behaviour according to the resources available at differ...

Monocropping elevates many insects to the status of economic pests. In these agroecosystems, non-crop habitats are sometimes deployed as trap crops to reduce pest damage. This environmentally friendly alternative to pesticides can be particularly fitting when dealing with native invaders that may be afforded legal protection or enjoy public sympath...

The use of DNA data is ubiquitous across animal sciences. DNA may be obtained from an organism for a myriad of reasons including identification and distinction between cryptic species, sex identification, comparisons of different morphocryptic genotypes or assessments of relatedness between organisms prior to a behavioural study. DNA should be obta...

Rethinking Ecology is a new open access, peer-reviewed journal that aims at fostering both forward-thinking and the publication of novel ideas in all aspects of ecology, evolution and environmental science. Rethinking Ecology is an opportunity to publish novel ideas and hypotheses prior to fully testing them. Our aim is to encourage scientists to s...

Powelliphanta is a genus of large land snails endemic to New Zealand. The twelve recognised species and numerous sub-species in that genus are known for their bright and colourful shells as well as their carnivorous habits. Although they are found in a variety of habitat types, several species and sub-species are in danger of extinction. In 2006, a...

DNA based techniques are increasingly used for measuring the biodiversity (species presence, identity, abundance and community composition) of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. While there are numerous reviews of molecular methods and bioinformatic steps, there has been little consideration of the methods used to collect samples upon which these...

Advances in the sequencing of DNA extracted from media such as soil and water offer huge opportunities for biodiversity monitoring and assessment, particularly where the collection or identification of whole organisms is impractical. However, there are myriad methods for the extraction, storage, amplification and sequencing of DNA from environmenta...

The high mortality of cephalopod paralarvae in captivity, owing to the lack of appropriate feeding protocols, prevents commercial culture of these important resources. Molecular tools, particularly next generation sequencing could increase our knowledge of their natural diet, and help developing suitable feed for rearing paralarvae. We identified t...

Global concern about external costs of pesticides (environment and human health) has promoted the development of new strategies for pest control in agro-ecosystems. In this sense, mineral-based dust and optical barriers have been used against agricultural pests in a variety of crops worldwide as alternatives to orthodox pest control. Recently, muss...

Specimens of a previously unrecorded collembolan species were found in a field margin of a commercial dairy farm near Christchurch, New Zealand. They were consistently observed apparently feeding on egg batches of the light brown apple moth Epiphyas postvittana, which were being used as bait to assess predation rate by potential biocontrol agents....

The high mortality of cephalopod early stages is the main bottleneck to grow them from paralarvae to adults in culture conditions, probably because the inadequacy of the diet that results in malnutrition. Since visual analysis of digestive tract contents of paralarvae provides little evidence of diet composition, the use of molecular tools, particu...

In a world where invasive invertebrate species can significantly compromise food security and where a dwindling range of synthetic pesticides remains our principal line of defence, testing a new invasion ecology hypothesis and understanding what makes a phytophagous insect invasive should be regarded as high priority research. Recent advances in mi...

Deciphering the amount of work provided by different co-authors of a scientific paper has been a recurrent problem in science. Despite the myriad of metrics available, the scientific community still largely relies on the position in the list of authors to evaluate contributions, a metric that attributes subjective and unfounded credit to co-authors...

This poster was presented at the Crazy and Ambitious conference organised by the New Zealand National Science Challenge on Biological Heritage.

Late March is the end of the cicada season in New Zealand. But the summer has been unusually wet in Auckland, and the insects’ constant singing is still going strong in Henderson Park, where a larger-than-usual crowd of visitors has gathered for the 2017 edition of Bioblitz. The goal of this event is to inventory all living things on a site within...

Background Melolonthinae beetles, comprising different white grub species, are a globally-distributed pest group. Their larvae feed on roots of several crop and forestry species, and adults can cause severe defoliation. In New Zealand, the endemic scarab pest Costelytra zealandica (White) causes severe defoliation on different horticultural crops,...

Text (.txt) file used for the R code Data used to calculate the relationship between adult Co stelytra zealandica sex ratio and days after adults’ flight started in the Awatere Valley during the 2015 flight season. Data are shown in Fig. 2.

Text (.txt) file used for the R code Data used to calculate the relationship between adult C ostelytra zealandica sex ratio and daily adult removal from grape vines at different time periods in the Awatere Valley during the 2015 flight season. Data are shown in Fig. 4A.

Text (.txt) file used for the R code Data used to calculate the correlation between adult C ostelytra zealandica sex ratio and adult abundance in the Awatere Valley during the 2015 flight season.

Text (.txt) file used for the R code Data used to calculate the mean adult Costelytra zealandica abundance at 5-min time periods after adult flight activity begun in the Awatere Valley during the 2015 flight season. Data are shown in Fig. 5 (dashed line).

Text (.txt) file used for the R code Data used to calculate the relationship between adult C ostelytra zealandica sex ratio and days after adults’ flight started in Blenheim during the 2015 flight season. Data are shown in Fig. 3.

Text (.txt) file used for the R code Data used to calculate the correlation between adult C ostelytra zealandica sex ratio and adult abundance in the Awatere Valley during the 2014 flight season.

Text (.txt) file used for the R code Data used to calculate Tukey’s contrasts between adult Costelytra zealandica abundance and the 5-min time periods after adult flight activity begun in the Awatere Valley during the 2015 flight season. Data are shown in Fig. 5 (dashed line).

Raw dataset used for statistical analyses All data needed for statistical computations

R code used to perform all the statistical analyses presented in the manuscript This R code script presents the steps carried out to analyse the data used for this manuscript. For each analysis, individual datasets extracted from the raw data file were created and used as .txt files.

Text (.txt) file used for the R code Data used to calculate the relationship between adult C ostelytra zealandica sex ratio and daily adult removal from grape vines at different time periods in Blenheim during the 2015 flight season. Data are shown in Fig. 4B.

Text (.txt) file used for the R code Data used to calculate the correlation between adult C ostelytra zealandica sex ratio and daily adult removal abundance from grape vines at different time periods in the Awatere Valley during the 2015 flight season.

Text (.txt) file used for the R code Data used to calculate the relationship between adult C ostelytra zealandica sex ratio and days after adults’ flight started in the Awatere Valley during the 2014 flight season. Data are shown in Fig. 1.

Text (.txt) file used for the R code Data used to calculate the correlation between adult C ostelytra zealandica sex ratio and adult abundance in Blenheim during the 2015 flight season.

Text (.txt) file used for the R code Data used to calculate the correlation between adult C ostelytra zealandica sex ratio and daily adult removal abundance from grape vines at different time periods in Blenheim during the 2015 flight season.

Text (.txt) file used for the R code Data used to calculate the mean adult C ostelytra zealandica abundance at 5-min time periods after adult flight activity begun in Blenheim during the 2015 flight season. Data are shown in Fig. 5 (solid line).

Text (.txt) file used for the R code Data used to calculate Tukey’s contrasts between adult Costelytra zealandica abundance and the 5-min time periods after adult flight activity begun in Blenheim during the 2015 flight season. Data are shown in Fig. 5 (solid line).

The ‘surplus’ of oceanic water generated by climate change offers an unprecedented opportunity to tackle a number of global issues through a very pragmatic process: shifting the excess water from the oceans onto the land. Here we propose that sea-level rise could be mitigated through the desalination of very large amounts of seawater in an internat...

Important knowledge gaps remain with regards to the ecology and the systematics of New Zealand’s native earthworms. With many putative new species yet to be described, often specimens cannot be named, which makes species inventory, monitoring and community comparisons dif cult. Our work aimed to identify new putative taxa of New Zealand native spec...

The efficacy of different combinations of under-vine and inter-row treatments for managing a soil-dwelling orthopteran pest, weta (Hemiandrus sp.), in vineyards was investigated over two seasons. This insect damages vine buds, thus reducing subsequent grape yield. The under-vine treatments comprised pea straw mulch, mussel shells, tick beans (Vicia...

The effects of the association between grasses and fungal endophytes on orthopterans are very poorly studied although they are important grassland pests. Here, the endemic New Zealand weta, Hemiandrus sp. ‘promontorius’, and Festulolium loliaceum infected with Epichloe¨ uncinata, were used to study the effect of endophyte-mediated resistance in gra...

Attempts to restore native biodiversity into agricultural landscapes in New Zealand appear to be compromised both by soil nitrogen enrichment from farming and N-leakage to the wider environment. We investigated whether interactions between native earthworms and a native rhizobium-inoculated leguminous shrub (Sophora microphylla) have a measurable e...

Biosolids can be a valuable fertilizer for agriculture and in ecological restoration, although there are concerns about contaminants. Earthworm activity, including vermicomposting of biosolids, may influence the efficacy of their use. We investigated how two New Zealand endemic anecic species of Maoridrilus (cf. Eisenia fetida ) responded to biosol...

Rethinking Ecology is a new open access, peer-reviewed journal that aims at fostering both forward-thinking and the publication of novel ideas in all aspects of ecology, evolution and environmental science. This editorial briefly presents the rationale, unique features and the aspiration of the journal.

The Weta Watcher project aims to engage students from primary schools in South Auckland to carry out a research project on the ecology and conservation of tree weta. Weta ideal candidates for citizen science and science outreach projects because they are easier to work with than most other insects, they can be relatively large and are very appealin...

Background Honeybees ( Apis mellifera L.) are frequently used in agriculture for pollination services because of their abundance, generalist floral preferences, ease of management and hive transport. However, their populations are declining in many countries. Agri-Environment Schemes (AES) are being implemented in agricultural systems to combat the...

Raw data. Data was collected at our field site at 10:00, 12:00, and 15:00 and the plot size of flowering phacelia was recorded in square meters. The following environmental variables were measured: cloud cover, temperature, wind speed, and soil moisture. Estimates of Flower Maturity and Pollen Amount were made using Tables 1 and 2 found in our manu...

Land conversion and environmental changes associated with agronomic practices are believed to have led to the disappearance of New Zealand endemic earthworms from agricultural land. Introduced European earthworms have since largely replaced endemic species in farming systems. We investigated the impact of vegetation restoration on earthworm communi...

Many adult parasitic Hymenoptera consume floral nectar and honeydew, although the latter is in most cases a ‘bad meal’ compared to floral nectars. Parasitoids of aphids, however, may be well-adapted to consuming honeydew when it is produced by their hosts. The nutritional value of honeydew for this group of parasitoids has often been tested against...

The endemic New Zealand ground wētā (Hemiandrus sp. ‘promontorius’) has a Naturally Uncommon conservation status. This is because of the paucity of information on its density and distribution. Here, the biology, density and distribution of a population of this wētā found in and around vineyards in the Awatere Valley, Marlborough was studied. Wētā d...