Predation on Multiple Prey Types Across a Disturbance Gradient in Tropical Montane Forests of Peninsular Malaysia

Predation on artificial caterpillars following understorey fires in human‐modified Amazonian forests

“…Mammals predated 5.5% of the caterpillars, a figure slightly higher than that previously reported—that is, <1% to 4% (Schwab et al, 2021; Seifert et al, 2015). Predation of caterpillars by reptiles is generally rare (Murray et al, 2020; Schwab et al, 2021), with some studies not registering any (Roels et al, 2018; Roslin et al, 2017; Zvereva et al, 2020). We found only two caterpillars predated by reptiles, out of the 2,858 which presented predation marks.…”

“…Through the standardization of this methodology, it is possible to compare predation incidence and predator composition among areas (Lövei & Ferrante, 2017). However, we highlight that our results should be carefully interpreted as these caterpillars are a simple visual approximation of real prey (Howe et al, 2009;Murray et al, 2020). Important factors such as posture and mobility (Lövei & Ferrante, 2017;Suzuki & Sakurai, 2015), olfaction (Hughes et al, 2010;Mäntylä et al, 2011;Sam et al, 2015), color (Ghim & Hodos, 2006), leaf damage (Sam et al, 2015), and plant chemical responses are not manifested in artificial models (Amo et al, 2013;Heil & Kost, 2006;Pearse et al, 2020).…”

“…Understorey fires can also lead to severe structural changes to forests resulting from high tree mortality (Berenguer et al, 2021; Silva et al, 2018), leading to shifts in vertebrate (Barlow & Peres, 2004; Moura et al, 2013), invertebrate (França et al, 2020; Silveira et al, 2016), and plant communities (Berenguer, Malhi, et al, 2018). Although such drastic modifications in community composition caused by anthropogenic disturbance would likely affect several ecosystem functions, there is little information about anthropogenic impacts on ecological processes, especially on herbivory control—that is, predation incidence on folivorous arthropods (Murray et al, 2020; Schwab et al, 2021).…”

“…Artificial caterpillars are a frequently‐used tool to evaluate the impact of forest disturbance on predation incidence (Meyer et al, 2015; Murray et al, 2020; Roels et al, 2018; Roslin et al, 2017; Schwab et al, 2021; Seifert et al, 2015). Even though the predation on artificial caterpillars is often lower in comparison with natural prey (Lövei & Ferrante, 2017; Nagy et al, 2020), the technique is still a robust way of comparing predation incidence between habitat types (Roels et al, 2018; Schwab et al, 2021; Tvardikova & Novotny, 2012).…”

“…We examined whether there were differences in the total predation incidence and in predation incidence by different predator groups (a) among pre‐El Niño forest disturbance classes without recent fires, and (b) between forests affected by understorey fires during the recent El Niño (EN) and those that remained unaffected. Based on the negative impacts of human‐driven disturbances on predator communities—which has been suggested to reduce the top‐down control of folivorous arthropods (Murray et al, 2020)—we expected predation incidence to be lower in pre‐EN disturbed forests when compared with undisturbed ones, and for it to be even lower in EN‐fire‐affected forests.…”