The effects of APV may extend to higher trophic levels
Host infection with viral pathogens can impact parasitoid fitness (Flick
et al. 2016, Dupont et al. 2020). We found that wasps developing from
APV+ aphids were significantly smaller than those from virus-free
controls in three of four lines lacking H. defensa . In the singleH. defensa line we examined, wasps that survived symbiont
defenses were similar in size regardless of APV infection. This result
is perplexing given that aphids with both H. defensa and APV
exhibited the poorest fitness overall (Table 4D, E) combined with
earlier studies finding that wasps emerging from aphids with H.
defensa were smaller (Dion et al. 2011, Schmid et al. 2012) .