Plant Resources as a Factor Altering Emergent Multi-Predator Effects

Maselou, D.; Perdikis, D.; Sabelis, Maurice W.; Fantinou, Argyro A.

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0138764

Cited by 8 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…In such situations, phenotypic variation is likely to force individuals of a cohort to alternative food resources (Svanbäck & Bolnick, 2007). Searching these effects in case of omnivorous predators, in addition to alternative prey, alternative plant food resources must also be considered, as they may alter intraspecific interactions (Maselou et al., 2015).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predator size affects the intensity of mutual interference in a predatory mirid

Papanikolaou

Dervisoglou

Fantinou

et al. 2020

Ecology and Evolution

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Interference competition occurs when access to an available resource is negatively affected by interactions with other individuals, where mutual interference involves individuals of the same species. The interactive phenomena among individuals may be size‐dependent, since body size is a major factor that may alter prey consumption rates and ultimately the dynamics and structure of food webs. A study was initiated in order to evaluate the effect of mutual interference in the prey‐specific attack rates and handling times of same size class predators, incorporating variation in consumer size. For this purpose, laboratory functional response experiments were conducted using same age predators, that is, newly hatched (first instar) or mature (fifth instar) nymphs of the polyphagous mirid predator Macrolophus pygmaeus preying on Ephestia kuehniella (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) eggs. The experiments involved four predator density treatments, that is, one, two, three, or four predators of same age, that is, either first‐ or fifth‐instar nymphs, which were exposed to several prey densities. The Crowley–Martin model, which allows for interference competition between foraging predators, was used to fit the data. The results showed that mutual interference between predator's nymphs may occur that affect their foraging efficiency. The values of the attack rate coefficient were dependent on the predator density and for the first‐instar nymphs were significantly lower at the highest predator density than the lower predator densities, whereas for the fifth‐instar nymphs in all density treatments were significantly lower to that of the individual foragers' ones. These results indicate that mutual interference is more intense for larger predators and is more obvious at low prey densities where the competition level is higher. The wider use of predator‐dependent functional response models will help toward a mechanistic understanding of intraspecific interactions and its consequences on the stability and structure of food webs.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predator size affects the intensity of mutual interference in a predatory mirid

Papanikolaou

Dervisoglou

Fantinou

et al. 2020

Ecology and Evolution

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“…As most environments show diurnal and seasonal thermal variations, multiple predators with different thermal responses are able to exert predation pressure over wider temperature ranges. Multiple predator effects 52 or MPEs can modify the strength of pest regulation, causing positive or negative deviations from those that are predicted from independent effects of isolated predators 53 , 54 . MPEs can be especially delicate, when – like in our case - there is a possibility of intraguild predation or intraguild NCE 53 , which effect may cause ‘risk reduction’, but there is also a possible facilitative effect between predators acting in different strata and/or having different predatory tactics 55 leading to a potential ‘risk enhancement’ effect.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Natural enemies partially compensate for warming induced excess herbivory in an organic growth system

Orsolya

Dreyer

Tóth

et al. 2017

Sci Rep

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Predators can limit prey abundance and/or levels of activity. The magnitudes of these effects are contingent on predator and prey traits that may change with environmental conditions. Aberrant thermal regimes could disrupt pest suppression through asymmetric effects, e.g. heat-sensitive predator vs. heat-tolerant prey. To explore potential effects of warming on suppressing pests and controlling herbivory in a vegetable crop, we performed laboratory experiments exposing an important pest species to two spider predator species at different temperatures. Heat tolerance was characterised by the critical thermal maxima parameter (CTM50) of the cucumber beetle (Diabrotica undecimpunctata), wolf spider (Tigrosa helluo), and nursery web spider (Pisaurina mira). Cucumber beetles and wolf spiders were equally heat tolerant (CTM50 > 40 °C), but nursery web spiders had limited heat tolerance (CTM50 = 34 °C). Inside mesocosms, beetle feeding increased with temperature, wolf spiders were always effective predators, nursery web spiders were less lethal at high temperature (38 °C). Neither spider species reduced herbivory at ambient temperature (22 °C), however, at warm temperature both species reduced herbivory with evidence of a dominant non-consumptive effect. Our experiments highlight the contingent nature of predator-prey interactions and suggest that non-consumptive effects should not be ignored when assessing the impact of temperature change.

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“…Based on the results of Maselou et al (2014Maselou et al ( , 2015 and considering the importance of M. pygmaeus as a biological control agent and the rather limited knowledge of the role of volatiles stimuli to its behavior, we set out to elucidate the behavioral response of the predator toward plant resources using olfactometric bioassays. We specifically addressed the following hypotheses: (i) if plant choice in M. pygmaeus is influenced by previous experience, predators reared on plant species of different suitability (aubergine plants vs. pepper plants), would show different host plant selection behavior, (ii) the presence of alternative food resources (flower) or prey (aphid-infested plants) alter the volatile blend and considering that they are a feeding source for M. pygmaeus, their volatiles would be more attractive for the omnivore than the volatiles emitted from uninfested and non-flowering plants.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Role of Host Plants, Alternative Food Resources and Herbivore Induced Volatiles in Choice Behavior of an Omnivorous Predator

2019

Self Cite

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Macrolophus pygmaeus, Rambur (Heteroptera, Miridae) is a generalist predator found on various plant species and has also the ability to feed both on animal and plant tissue. Foraging behavior of M. pygmaeus and ultimately its efficacy as a biological control agent, is known to be affected by olfactory stimuli. Here, we elaborate on the response of this omnivore predator to volatiles produced by host plants by conducting olfactometric bioassays under laboratory conditions. In particular, we explored: (i) the relationship between previous experience and plant choice of M. pygmaeus nymphs by comparing its attractiveness to pepper and aubergine plants and (ii) how the presence of an aphid prey, Myzus persicae (Sulzer), or floral resources may influence choices made by M. pygmaeus. When the two host plants were provided, aubergine plants were found to be more attractive than pepper plants, regardless the previous experience of M. pygmaeus. Furthermore, the presence of M. persicae made aubergine plants more attractive to M. pygmaeus nymphs than uninfested aubergine plants. The gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis showed that plants infested with M. persicae emitted additional compounds as compared to the volatiles emitted from uninfested plants. In particular, four compounds, (E)-β-farnesene, (E,E)-TMTT, 2-methylbutanal oxime and dodecanal were found present only in the headspace of aubergine plants with aphids. However, M. pygmaeus did not show preference for the floral resources. Our results indicate that the response of M. pygmaeus is tuned toward the various stimuli in its habitat.

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Plant Resources as a Factor Altering Emergent Multi-Predator Effects

Cited by 8 publications

References 58 publications

Predator size affects the intensity of mutual interference in a predatory mirid

Predator size affects the intensity of mutual interference in a predatory mirid

Natural enemies partially compensate for warming induced excess herbivory in an organic growth system

The Role of Host Plants, Alternative Food Resources and Herbivore Induced Volatiles in Choice Behavior of an Omnivorous Predator

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