Effects of entomopathogens on host behavior

Abstract:

Entomopathogens are an important factor to regulate dynamics of insect population, and widely applied for biological control of pest insects. Entomopathogens increase their fitness by modifying the host behavior; some modifications of host behavior are immune response for infection of pathogens. Behavioral fever could suppress pathogen reproduction and extend the death time of host. The changes of feeding behavior affect the fitness of both host and pathogen. Reproductive behavior changes contain the modification from the fecundity, sexual attractiveness and sex pheromones. The alterations of social behavior are effective on the fitness of social crowd and transmission of pathogens. The weakness of defensive and aggregation behavior of infected host is unbeneficial to the transmission of pathogens; but the responses of phototropism and geotropism of host manipulated by pathogen are helpful for the spread and transmission of the pathogen. It is meaningful to find new methods controlling insect pests by discovering the strategy and mechanism of the pathogen regulating host behaviors.

Key words:entomopathogens;pathogenic behavior;biocontrol;behavioral immunity