Richness–productivity relationships between trophic levels in a detritus-based system: significance of abundance and trophic linkage

Yee, Donald; Yee, Susan H.; Kneitel, Jamie M.; Juliano, Steven A.

doi:10.1007/s00442-007-0837-5

Cited by 26 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 52 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…1 and 2). Protozoans often are important prey for mosquito larvae (Conchran-Stafira and von Ende 1998, Eisenberg et al 2000, Kaufman et al 2002, Kneitel 2007, Yee et al 2007c, although there are no data testing whether protozoans affect patterns of oviposition. Gravid females of several species of container mosquitoes prefer substrates with bacteria for oviposition (Maw 1970, Ikeshoji et al 1975, Trexler et al 2003, and our data identified bacterial productivity (PS) as important for both early and late instars of Aedes during spring (Fig.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Environmental Correlates of Abundances of Mosquito Species and Stages in Discarded Vehicle Tires

Yee¹,

Kneitel

Juliano³

2010

J Med Entomol

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Discarded vehicle tires are a common habitat for container mosquito larvae, although the environmental factors that may control their presence or abundance within a tire are largely unknown. We sampled discarded vehicle tires in six sites located within four counties of central Illinois during the spring and summer of 2006 to determine associations between a suite of environmental factors and community composition of container mosquitoes. Our goal was to find patterns of association between environmental factors and abundances of early and late instars. We hypothesized that environmental factors correlated with early instars would be indicative of oviposition cues, whereas environmental factors correlated with late instars would be those important for larval survival. We collected 13 species of mosquitoes, with six species (Culex restuans, Cx. pipiens, Aedes albopictus, Cx. salinarius, Ae. atropalpus, and Ae. triseriatus) accounting for ≈95% of all larvae. There were similar associations between congenerics and environmental factors, with Aedes associated with detritus type (fine detritus, leaves, seeds) and Culex associated with factors related to the surrounding habitat (human population density, canopy cover, tire size) or microorganisms (bacteria, protozoans). Although there was some consistency in factors that were important for early and late instar abundance, there were few significant associations between early and late instars for individual species. Lack of correspondence between factors that explain variation in early versus late instars, most notable for Culex, suggests a difference between environmental determinants of oviposition and survival within tires. Environmental factors associated with discarded tires are important for accurate predictions of mosquito occurrence at the generic level. KeywordsAedes; bacteria; Culex; detritus; microorganisms Discarded vehicle tires are an important artificial habitat for the larvae of numerous species of disease-carrying container mosquitoes (reviewed in Yee 2008). Tires are important, in part, because of their abundance and proximity to human habitation, and because they are potentially more durable than natural containers (e.g., tree holes). Moreover, tires are an important means of transportation for native (Berry and Craig 1984) and invasive species (Hawley et al. 1987, Peyton et al. 1999. Although the importance of tires as a habitat for container mosquitoes is well documented, there is surprisingly little information about how environments in and around tires relate to mosquito populations and communities. Understanding the environmental factors that affect oviposition and larval survival in tires may be of practical importance for understanding risk of disease transmission in different kinds of habitats, and may aid in planning more effective vector control strategies.The presence of mosquito larvae in a container is the result of two processes: female oviposition choice and larval survival. Female mosquitoes use a variety of sensory cues to lo...

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Protozoan identifications were made based on Pennak (1989) and Foissner and Berger (1996). Similar methods for protozoans have been used in another container mosquito system (i.e., tree holes, Yee et al 2007c). …”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental Correlates of Abundances of Mosquito Species and Stages in Discarded Vehicle Tires

Yee¹,

Kneitel

Juliano³

2010

J Med Entomol

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This process is different from mere random habitat-size-related colonization events as envisioned by Wilson (1963, 1967), however, it may result in the same pattern. Examples of comparable naturally patchy, temporal systems that are connected by the dispersal of highly mobile species are other phytotelms such as mosquitoinhabited water-filled tree holes (Yee et al 2007) or Note: Habitat size transformation is as in Table 2, P values ,0.05 shown in bold.…”

Section: What Can We Learn From Bromeliads?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Dominant predators mediate the impact of habitat size on trophic structure in bromeliad invertebrate communities

Petermann

Farjalla

Jocqué

et al. 2015

Ecology

133

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. Local habitat size has been shown to influence colonization and extinction processes of species in patchy environments. However, species differ in body size, mobility, and trophic level, and may not respond in the same way to habitat size. Thus far, we have a limited understanding of how habitat size influences the structure of multitrophic communities and to what extent the effects may be generalizable over a broad geographic range. Here, we used water-filled bromeliads of different sizes as a natural model system to examine the effects of habitat size on the trophic structure of their inhabiting invertebrate communities. We collected composition and biomass data from 651 bromeliad communities from eight sites across Central and South America differing in environmental conditions, species pools, and the presence of large-bodied odonate predators. We found that trophic structure in the communities changed dramatically with changes in habitat (bromeliad) size. Detritivore : resource ratios showed a consistent negative relationship with habitat size across sites. In contrast, changes in predator : detritivore (prey) ratios depended on the presence of odonates as dominant predators in the regional pool. At sites without odonates, predator : detritivore biomass ratios decreased with increasing habitat size. At sites with odonates, we found odonates to be more frequently present in large than in small bromeliads, and predator : detritivore biomass ratios increased with increasing habitat size to the point where some trophic pyramids became inverted. Our results show that the distribution of biomass amongst food-web levels depends strongly on habitat size, largely irrespective of geographic differences in environmental conditions or detritivore species compositions. However, the presence of largebodied predators in the regional species pool may fundamentally alter this relationship between habitat size and trophic structure. We conclude that taking into account the response and multitrophic effects of dominant, mobile species may be critical when predicting changes in community structure along a habitat-size gradient.

show abstract

“…Container food webs are usually simple (predators-consumers-microorganisms-detritus) (Walker et al 1991, Kitching 2000) suggesting that trophic-cascades are likely (Strong 1992). Organic detritus, mainly decomposing plant parts and arthropod carcasses, forms the base of the food web and bacteria play a key role in converting that detritus into biomass edible by consumers (Kitching 2000, Moore et al 2004, Yee et al 2007a, b). Although it is clear that detritus-derived productivity affects abundances of decomposers and consumers within natural and artificial containers (e.g., Yee et al 2007a, b; Murrell and Juliano 2008), few studies have tested the three pathways by which predators in a bacteria-bacteriovore-predator trophic system may affect bacterial abundance (see Costa and Vonesh 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A multifaceted trophic cascade in a detritus‐based system: density‐, trait‐, or processing‐chain‐mediated effects?

et al. 2015

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We investigated three pathways by which predators on an intermediate trophic level may produce a trophic cascade in detritus-based systems. Predators may increase lower trophic levels (bacteria) by reducing density of bacteriovores, by altering behavior of bacteriovores, and by processing living bacteriovores into carcasses, feces, and dissolved nutrients that are substrates for bacteria. We tested these pathways in laboratory experiments with mosquitoes in water-filled containers. Larval Toxorhynchites rutilus prey on larval Aedes triseriatus, which feed on bacteria. Using containers stocked with oak leaf infusion as a bacterial substrate, we compared bacterial productivity at 7 and 14 days for: prey alone; prey with a predator; and prey with predation cues but no predator. Controls contained no larvae, either with predation cues or without cues. Predation cues in the control treatment increased bacterial abundance at 7 days, but this effect waned by 14 days. Aedes triseriatus larvae reduced bacterial abundance significantly at 14 days. Predator cues and real predation both eliminated the negative effect of A. triseriatus on bacterial abundance. Predation cues reduced survivorship of A. triseriatus larvae at 14 days, however this effect was smaller than the effect of real predation. We further tested effects of residues from predation as cues or as detritus in a second experiment in which A. triseriatus were killed at similar rates by: real predators; mechanical damage without the predator and carcasses left as detritus; or mechanical damage and carcasses removed. No prey larvae were killed in controls. Bacterial productivity was greater with real predation than in all other treatments and greater when prey larvae were killed or killed and removed, than in controls. Thus we find evidence that all three pathways contribute to the trophic cascade from T. rutilus to bacteria in tree hole systems.

show abstract

Richness–productivity relationships between trophic levels in a detritus-based system: significance of abundance and trophic linkage

Cited by 26 publications

References 52 publications

Environmental Correlates of Abundances of Mosquito Species and Stages in Discarded Vehicle Tires

Environmental Correlates of Abundances of Mosquito Species and Stages in Discarded Vehicle Tires

Dominant predators mediate the impact of habitat size on trophic structure in bromeliad invertebrate communities

A multifaceted trophic cascade in a detritus‐based system: density‐, trait‐, or processing‐chain‐mediated effects?

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About