Parasitoid Ecology

We study the population, community and behavioral ecology of interacting species in fragmented and changing landscapes. Our main research system has been the parasitoids associated with the Glanville fritillary butterfly Melitaea cinxia in Finland.

The interacting community associated with the plants *Plantag*o lanceolata and Veronica spicata in the fragmented landscape of Åland, Finland

Highlights from recent publications

The genetic signature of introduced wasp lineages gives us a window into what has happened in an island archipelago over the 25 years since their accidental introduction, including persistence through population bottlenecks, dispersal and interbreeding, as well as sorting among lineages depending on interaction between a hyperparasitoid and bacterial symbiont. @duplouy_anne @abhevo @Saskyavn @ParasitoidEcol

Press release in English or in Swedish

Article about it in The Guardian

The article in Molecular ecology:
Duplouy A., Nair A., Nyman T., and van Nouhuys S. (2021. Long-term spatio-temporal genetic structure of an accidental parasitoid introduction, and local changes in prevalence of its associated Wolbachia symbiont. Molecular Ecology. doi: 10.1111/mec.16065

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We assessed the potential long term and landscape-level effects of plant-pathogen herbivore-parasitoid interactions on their dynamics. We found that while there are strong and weak interactions between species, most are swamped out by spatial and temporal variation of host plant quality.

Opedal, Ø., Ovaskainen, O., Saastamoinen, M., Laine, A-L., van Nouhuys, S. 2020 Host plant availability drives the spatio-temporal dynamics of interacting metapopulations across a fragmented landscape.
Ecology, 101(12):e03186. 10.1002/ecy.3186

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Increasing synchrony of butterfly population dynamics due to changing weather, not natural enemies

Kahilainen, A., van Nouhuys, S., Schulz, T. & Saastamoinen, M. 2018 Metapopulation dynamics in a changing climate: Increasing spatial synchrony in weather conditions drives metapopulation synchrony of a butterfly inhabiting a fragmented landscape. PDF
Global Change Biology, doi:10.1111/gcb.14280

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Host species isn’t very important to this generalist parasitoid, but the plant species is, and so is the surrounding environment

Reudler J. H., van Nouhuys, S. 2018
The roles of foraging environment, host species and host diet for a generalist pupal parasitoid. PDF
Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata, 10.1111/eea.12657