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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Urbana, Illinois » Soybean/maize Germplasm, Pathology, and Genetics Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #283987
Title: Life history and morphological plasticity of three biotypes of soybean aphid (Aphis glycines)

Author
item RICHARDSON, MATHEW - University Of Illinois
item LAGOS, DORIS - University Of Illinois
item MITCHELL, ROBERT - University Of Illinois
item Hartman, Glen
item VOEGTLIN, DAVID - University Of Illinois

Submitted to: Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/23/2011
Publication Date: 8/1/2011
Citation: Richardson, M., Lagos, D., Mitchell, R., Hartman, G.L., Voegtlin, D. 2011. Life history and morphological plasticity of three biotypes of soybean aphid (Aphis glycines). Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata. 140:139-145.

Interpretive Summary: The soybean aphid is an important pest of soybean. It was first reported in North America in 2000. The influence of temperature on its life history and morphological traits had not been tested. Three isolates of the aphid were evaluated for lifespan, growth rate, reproduction, and morphology at 16, 24, and 28 °C. Population size of the aphid was influenced by temperature, probably because two reproductive traits: maximum number of offspring in 1 day and total reproduction over time. All morphological traits measured changed based on temperature including lengths of body parts, number of antennal segments and hairs, and color of body. Knowledge about the life history and morphology of the soybean aphid may help identify its capacity to change its appearance under different environmental conditions and to identify how temperature influences its survival, population growth, and diversity. This information is useful for biologists, entomologists, and other scientist interested in the interaction of environment and biology.

Technical Abstract: The soybean aphid, Aphis glycines Matsumura (Hemiptera: Aphididae), is a pest of soybean, Glycine max (L.) Merr. (Fabaceae), from eastern Asia that was first reported in North America in 2000. The influence of temperature on plasticity of life history and morphological traits of the soybean aphid has not been tested despite observable differences in population growth and morphology among isolates in laboratory colonies. Therefore, we used three isolates of the aphid to test whether lifespan, growth rate, fecundity, and morphology were plastic at 16, 24, and 28 °C. Population size of the aphid was influenced by temperature, probably because two reproductive traits, maximum number of offspring in 1 day and total fecundity, were plastic and increased in successive generations at 24 °C. All morphological traits were plastic, including lengths of body parts, number of antennal segments and caudal hairs, and color of siphunculi and body, and they were differentially influenced by isolate and temperature. Knowledge about the life history and morphology of the soybean aphid may help identify its capacity for phenotypic plasticity in heterogeneous temperatures and identify how temperature influences its survival, population growth, and diversity.