title: Asymmetric consequences of host plant occupation on the competition between the whiteflies Bemisia tabaci cryptic species MEAM1 and Trialeurodes vaporariorum (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae).
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The two common whitefly species, Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) MEAM1 and Trialeurodes vaporariorum (Westwood), often co-occur on their host plants. The effect of host plant occupation by one species on later-arriving conspecific individuals or on the other competing species was examined.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Resource preoccupied by T. vaporariorum had mostly negative effects on the life history parameters of later-arriving conspecifics. Red-eyed nymph and immature survival of T. vaporariorum decreased when resource was preoccupied by conspecifics, irrespective of the previous occupation scenario. However, resource preoccupied by T. vaporariorum had only minor detrimental effects on the performance of later-arriving B. tabaci MEAM1. In the opposite colonisation sequence, previous occupation by B. tabaci MEAM1 had no significant effects on the life history parameters of later-arriving conspecifics, but severe detrimental effects were observed on the performance of later-arriving T. vaporariorum. Total immature survival of T. vaporariorum decreased in both weak and strong previous occupation situations by B. tabaci MEAM1.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The interspecific interactions between B. tabaci MEAM1 and T. vaporariorum were asymmetric, with B. tabaci MEAM1 being the superior competitor. This superiority could partially explain the rapid spread of B. tabaci MEAM1 in China.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Biology of Plant Diseases and Insect Pests, Institute of Plant Protection, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Gui-Fen
authors.initials: GF
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Gábor L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Lövei
authors.forename: Man
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Fang-Hao
authors.initials: FH
authors.lastname: Wan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002681:China; D003163:Competitive Behavior; D005260:Female; D005298:Fertility; D006430:Hemiptera / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology*; D008018:Life Cycle Stages; D008136:Longevity; D018551:Solanum lycopersicum / Q000469:parasitology; D008297:Male; D009758:Nymph / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology; D011157:Population Dynamics; D013045:Species Specificity
keywords: Bemisia tabaci cryptic species MEAM1; Trialeurodes vaporariorum; asymmetric competition; interspecific interaction; resource previous occupation