12 Like Us on Facebook: BetterFarmingON Better Farming | April 2024 The use of pesticides, while beneficial for global food security, can wreak havoc on natural ecosystems and human health. To address this issue, Penn State researchers have turned to an unlikely enforcer to protect crops: The ladybug. The team, led by Sara Hermann in the Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences, developed a novel pest management tool by leveraging the chemical ecology of predator-prey interactions between ladybugs and aphids. They published their work in the journal Basic and Applied Ecology and recently filed a provisional patent application for the innovation. While ladybugs are known to be ravenous consumers of aphids, small insects that eat nearly every kind of plant, Hermann has focused her research on the non-consumptive dynamics between these organisms. What piqued her interest was the aphid’s ability to detect the unique smells that ladybugs emit and process these smells as a cue to change behavioural traits that allow them to avoid being eaten. “The major goal is to start to think outside the box,” says Hermann, the Tombros Early Career Professor and assistant professor of arthropod ecology and trophic interactions. “We want to understand how the fear of being eaten influences behaviour and physiology. We start with big ecological questions centred in agricultural systems to develop interventions. Using knowledge of basic ecological interactions that already exist, we can work with nature rather than against it.” Hermann investigates aphid behavioural responses to ladybug “scents” and characterizes the chemical makeup of these scents. She conducts this research, which was featured in a recent PBS Terra video, in collaboration with the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences’ Center for Chemical Ecology at Penn State. Hermann and her team identified the main compounds constituting the ladybug scent in 2021 and found that the scent alone can induce certain behaviours in aphids. Research USING LADYBUG SCENTS AGAINST APHIDS New research offers a more ecologically friendly way to protect crops. By Vanessa Garcia, Penn State The presence of ladybug odours can reduce the amount of time aphids eat and can drop their population numbers by 25 per cent. ligora/iStock /Getty Images Plus photo
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