Carbon–nitrogen stoichiometry in the tritrophic food chain willow, leaf beetle, and predatory ladybird beetle

Kagata, Hideki; Ohgushi, Takayuki

doi:10.1007/s11284-006-0314-3

Cited by 16 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…At the same time, this has also been shown for terrestrial systems, e.g. for carnivorous beetles by Kagata and Ohgushi (2007) in an experimental three-trophic-level food chain setup, and in a broader sense by Denno and Fagan (2003) who showed that even minor differences, usually found between predator and prey N stoichiometry, shape omnivory, but information on this specific field of research is still very limited.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 69%

Differential effects of nutrient-limited primary production on primary, secondary or tertiary consumers

et al. 2009

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Nutritional imbalances between predator and prey are the rule rather than the exception at the lower end of food webs. We investigated the role of different grazers in the propagation of nutritionally imbalanced primary production by using the same primary producers in a threetrophic-level food chain and a four-trophic-level food chain experimental setup. The three-trophic-level food chain consisted of a classic single-cell primary producer (Rhodomonas salina), a metazoan grazer (the copepod Acartia tonsa) and a top predator (the jellyfish Gonionemus vertens), while we added a protozoan grazer (Oxyrrhis marina) as primary consumer to the food chain to establish the four-trophic-level food chain. This setup allowed us to investigate how nutrient-limitation effects change from one trophic level to another, and to investigate the performance of two components of our experimental food chains in different trophic positions. Stoichiometry and fatty acid profiles of the algae showed significant differences between the nutrient-depleted [no N and no P addition (-P), respectively] and the nutrient-replete (f/2) treatments. The differences in stoichiometry could be traced when O. marina was the first consumer. Copepods feeding on these flagellates were not affected by the nutritional imbalance of their prey in their stoichiometry, their respiration rates nor in their developmental rates. In contrast, when copepods were the primary consumer, those reared on the -P algae showed significantly higher respiration rates along with significantly lower developmental rates. In neither of our two experimental food chains did the signals from the base of the food chains travel up to jelly fish, our top predator.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 69%

Differential effects of nutrient-limited primary production on primary, secondary or tertiary consumers

et al. 2009

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“…The relative growth rate of the chrysomelid increased when feeding on the nitrogen rich leaves, but nitrogen level did not increase in the body of the leaf beetle. Thus it is not clear why the relative growth rate also increased in the coccinellid larvae preying on the chrysomelid larvae feeding on N -rich leaves (Kagata & Ohgushi 2007 ; Elevated air CO 2 concentration signifi cantly increased tannin and gossypol content and decreased N content in cotton. The survival of Aphis gossypii increased with higher CO 2 concentrations while their fatty acid content decreased.…”

Section: Food Relationships 197mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…28 Qualitative traits of leaves, chrysomelids ( P lagiodera versicolora ) and ladybirds ( A iolocaria hexaspilota ) on cut and uncut willows (modifi ed afterKagata & Ohgushi 2007 ) .…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Food Relationships

Hodek

Evans

2012

Ecology and Behaviour of the Ladybird Beetles (Coccinellidae)

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“…Specifically, carnivores that consumed herbivorous zooplankton raised on nutrient-replete phytoplankton grew more rapidly (thus, FCE was higher) than carnivores that consumed zooplankton fed nutrient-limited phytoplankton (Malzahn et al, 2007;Dickman et al, 2008;Schoo et al, 2010;Rowland et al, 2015). In a terrestrial system, Kagata & Ohgushi (2007) found that the growth rate of predatory ladybird beetles increased when fed herbivorous beetles raised on willow leaves with a low C:N, even though the C:N of the leaf beetles was not significantly different between treatments; this suggests that producer stoichiometry may affect traits of herbivores, other than stoichiometry, in ways that impact herbivore quality as food for higher trophic levels. However, such carry-over effects are not universally observed in experimental 3 trophic-level food chains (Boersma et al, 2008;Malzahn et al, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Carnivore identity mediates the effects of light and nutrients on aquatic food‐chain efficiency

et al. 2016

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Summary Food chain efficiency (FCE), the proportion of primary production converted to production of the top trophic level, can influence several ecosystem services as well as the biodiversity and productivity of each trophic level. Aquatic FCE is affected by light and nutrient supply, largely via effects on primary producer stoichiometry that propagate to herbivores and then carnivores. Here, we test the hypothesis that the identity of the top carnivore mediates FCE responses to changes in light and nutrient supply. We conducted a large‐scale, 6‐week mesocosm experiment in which we manipulated light and nutrient (nitrogen and phosphorus) supply and the identity of the carnivore in a 2 × 2 × 2 factorial design. We quantified the response of FCE and the biomass and productivity of each trophic level (phytoplankton, zooplankton, and carnivore). We used an invertebrate, Chaoborus americanus, and a vertebrate, bluegill sunfish (Lepomis macrochirus), as the two carnivores in this study because of the large difference in phosphorus requirements between these taxa. We predicted that bluegill would be more likely to experience P‐limitation due to higher P requirements, and hence that FCE would be lower in the bluegill treatments than in the Chaoborus treatments. We also expected the interactive effect of light and nutrients to be stronger in the bluegill treatments. Within a carnivore treatment, we predicted highest FCE under low light and high nutrient supply, as these conditions would produce high‐quality (low C:nutrient) algal resources. In contrast, if food quantity had a stronger effect on carnivore production than food quality, carnivore production would increase proportionally with primary production, thus FCE would be similar across light and nutrient treatments. Carnivore identity mediated the effects of light and nutrients on FCE, and as predicted FCE was higher in food chains with Chaoborus than with bluegill. Also as predicted, FCE in Chaoborus treatments was higher under low light. However, FCE in bluegill treatments was higher at high light supply, opposite to our predictions. In addition, bluegill production increased proportionally with primary production, while Chaoborus production was not correlated with primary production, suggesting that bluegill responded more strongly to food quantity than to food quality. These carnivore taxa differ in traits other than body stoichiometry, for example, feeding selectivity, which may have contributed to the observed differences in FCE between carnivores. Comparison of our results with those from previous experiments showed that FCE responds similarly to light and nutrients in food chains with Chaoborus and larval fish (gizzard shad: Clupeidae), but very differently in food chains with bluegill. These findings warrant further investigation into the mechanisms related to carnivore identity (e.g., developmental stage, feeding selectivity) underlying these responses, and highlight the importance of considering both top‐down and bottom‐up effects when evaluating food c...

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Carbon–nitrogen stoichiometry in the tritrophic food chain willow, leaf beetle, and predatory ladybird beetle

Cited by 16 publications

References 34 publications

Differential effects of nutrient-limited primary production on primary, secondary or tertiary consumers

Differential effects of nutrient-limited primary production on primary, secondary or tertiary consumers

Food Relationships

Carnivore identity mediates the effects of light and nutrients on aquatic food‐chain efficiency

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