The Impact of Parasitoids On Natural Populations of Temperate Woodland Drosophila

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Abstract
The species complex of temperate woodland Drosophila and its hymenopterous parasitoids was studied to elucidate the importance of parasitization as a mortality fac- tor of Drosophila populations. A total of 5841 Drosophila and 801 parasitoids emerged from the collected field sam- ples, indicating an overall parasitization rate of 12.1 %. Parasitization rates during a period of 9 weeks in midsummer were considerably higher, with a mean rate of 32.5 % . Parasitization rates in some substrate types, i.e. sap fluxes of wounded trees, ranged from 70% to 100%, indicating that risks of parasitization for Drosophila species that specialize on this substrate are very high, whereas parasitoids specialized on this microhabitat may experience high intra- and interspecific competition for hosts. It is concluded that parasitization is an important mortality factor during a con- siderable part of the Drosophila breeding season.

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