RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Detecting host-parasitoid interactions in an invasive Lepidopteran using nested tagging DNA-metabarcoding
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 035071
DO 10.1101/035071
A1 James JN Kitson
A1 Christoph Hahn
A1 Richard J Sands
A1 Nigel A Straw
A1 Darren M Evans
A1 David H Lunt
YR 2018
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/01/26/035071.abstract
AB Determining the host-parasitoid interactions and parasitism rates for invasive species entering novel environments is an important first step in assessing potential routes for biocontrol and integrated pest management. Conventional insect rearing techniques followed by taxonomic identification are widely used to obtain such data, but this can be time consuming and prone to biases. Here we present a Next Generation Sequencing approach for use in ecological studies which allows for individual level metadata tracking of large numbers of invertebrate samples through the use of hierarchically organised molecular identification tags. We demonstrate its utility using a sample data set examining both species identity and levels of parasitism in late larval stages of the Oak Processionary Moth (Thaumetopoea processionea - Linn. 1758), an invasive species recently established in the UK. Overall we find that there are two main species exploiting the late larval stages of Oak Processionary Moth in the UK with the main parasitoid (Carcelia iliaca-Ratzeburg, 1840) parasitising 45.7% of caterpillars, while a rare secondary parasitoid (Compsilura conccinata-Meigen, 1824) was also detected in 0.4% of caterpillars. Using this approach on all life stages of the Oak Processionary Moth may demonstrate additional parasitoid diversity. We discuss the wider potential of nested tagging DNA-metabarcoding for constructing large, highly-resolved species interaction networks.