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ViewAttendees 3

Student 10-Minute Paper

Systematics, Evolution, and Biodiversity

Student Competition

Student

Grad Competition SysEB: Ecology 2

Addressing Darwin's vampire problem: Biological control of the avian vampire fly in Galapagos

Monday, November 6, 2023
10:30 AM - 10:42 AM ET
Location: Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center, Chesapeake B-C
In-Person Student Competition

    Presenting Author(s)

  • Alyssa T. Gooding

    PhD Candidate
    University of Minnesota
    Saint Paul, Minnesota

    • Co-Author(s)

  • KA

    Katherine Alban

    Lab Technician
    Charles Darwin Foundation
    Guayaquil, Guayas, Ecuador

  • DM

    Denis Mosquera

    Charles Darwin Foundation
    Guayaquil, Guayas, Ecuador

  • SA

    Saul Aguirre

    Charles Darwin Foundation
    Guayaquil, Guayas, Ecuador

  • PP

    Paolo Piedrahita

    Research Professor
    Escuela Superior Politecnica del Litoral
    Guayaquil, Guayas, Ecuador

  • Charlotte Causton

    Senior Research Scientist
    Charles Darwin Foundation
    Santa Cruz Island, Galapagos, Ecuador

  • George E. Heimpel

    Professor
    University of Minnesota
    Saint Paul, Minnesota

In the Galapagos Islands, Darwin’s Finches are experiencing drastic population declines due to the invasion of the Avian Vampire Fly (AVF), a parasitic fly that infests bird nests and kills nestlings by overfeeding on their blood. The Enemy Release Hypothesis has been cited as a reason for the uncontrolled spread of AVF as none of the parasitoid wasps that attack AVF in its native range in mainland Ecuador are present in Galapagos to provide control. My research focuses on risk assessment of the most abundant of these wasps, Trichopria sp., to determine whether it is specific to AVF as a host and thus could be a safe biological control agent for release in Galapagos. I conducted No Choice experiments in mainland Ecuador to determine the fundamental host range of Trichopria sp. and discovered that unlike field studies where Trichopria sp. was found to only emerge from AVF, several semi-closely related species were also attacked. However, host location experiments including olfactometer trials with nests and nest entities as cues suggest that Trichopria sp. is specialized to host location in nests and would likely only successfully attack AVF in Galapagos. This work represents early steps towards the selection of a safe biological agent for the conservation of Galapagos avifauna.