Herbivory in Cacti: Fitness Effects of Two Herbivores, One Tending Ant on Myrtillocactus geometrizans (Cactaceae)

Callejas-Chavero, Alicia; Martínez-Hernández, Diana Guadalupe; Flores-Martínez, Arturo; Moncada-Orellana, Alejandra; Diaz-Quiñones, Yahveh; Vargas-Mendoza, Carlos F.

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-46012-9_6

Cited by 4 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 84 publications

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“…Herbivory is perhaps the most common interaction in nature. However, its role in the growth and distribution of plant populations is still under discussion [ 53 ], especially in long-lived species inhabiting stressful environments [ 54 ] such as cacti [ 37 ]. The few studies available on insect herbivory in cacti have focused on commercial species growing in relatively homogeneous culture conditions [ 55 , 56 ], even though herbivory intensity has been shown to vary depending on environmental conditions [ 57 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite the wide distribution of M. geometrizans in the arid zones of central Mexico [ 64 , 65 ], its interaction with the scale T. martinezae and the parasitoid M. toumeyellus has only been reported for a particular location in central Mexico, where this study was conducted. In fact, no other host species for this scale and the parasitoid have been reported to date [ 37 , 47 , 49 , 66 ]. Micro-endemisms in Hemiptera such as Nysius wekiuicola have been documented in locations with very particular environments distinctive environmental conditions [ 67 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Céspedes [ 36 ] pointed out that the high resistance of Myrtillocactus geometrizans to insect attack could be explained by the presence of triterpenes and sterols, compounds that have also been isolated from other cacti species such as Lamaireocerus chichipe , Myrtillocactus cochal , M. schenckii , and M. eichlamii . Although these compounds have shown positive effects in controlling common pests such as Spodoptera frugiperda and Tenebrio molitor in laboratory experiments, it is not known whether they have similar effects on natural herbivores of M. geometrizans or contribute to attracting their natural enemies (predators and parasitoids) [ 37 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Herbivory in Myrtillocactus geometrizans (Cactaceae): Do Parasitoids Provide Indirect Defense or a Direct Advantage?

Callejas-Chavero

Martínez-Hernández

Vargas-Mendoza

et al. 2022

Plants

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Plants respond to herbivory in diverse, complex ways, ranging from avoidance or tolerance to indirect defense mechanisms such as attracting natural enemies of herbivores, i.e., parasitoids or predators, to strengthen their defense. Defense provided by parasitoids to cultivated plants is well documented and is used in biological control programs. However, its effectiveness on wild plants under natural conditions has been little studied. Such is the case of the cactus Myrtilllocactus geometrizans (known in Mexico as garambullo), which is consumed by the soft-scale insect Toumeyella martinezae (herbivore) which, in turn, is host to the parasitoid wasp Mexidalgus toumeyellus, and mutualist with the ant Liometopum apiculatum, that tenders and protects it. This study explores the role of the parasitoid as an indirect defense, by examining its effect on both the herbivore and the plant, and how this interaction is affected by the presence of the mutualistic ant. We found that scales adversely affect the cactus’ growth, flower, and fruit production, as well as its progeny’s performance, as seedlings from scale-infested garambullo plants were shorter, and it also favors the presence of fungus (sooty mold). The parasitoid responded positively to herbivore abundance, but the presence of ants reduced the intensity of parasitism. Our results show that parasitoids can function as an indirect defense, but their effectiveness is reduced by the presence of the herbivore’s mutualistic ant.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Herbivory in Myrtillocactus geometrizans (Cactaceae): Do Parasitoids Provide Indirect Defense or a Direct Advantage?

Callejas-Chavero

Martínez-Hernández

Vargas-Mendoza

et al. 2022

Plants

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“…The effects of the interactions between a plant and an herbivore can be altered by a second species of herbivore in two main ways. First, the presence of one species of herbivore (or its damage) may alter the amount of damage inflicted by a second species, either through direct or indirect competitive or facilitative interactions (Denno et al 1995;Kaplan and Denno 2007;Wang et al 2014;Callejas-Chavero et al 2020). Second-even if the herbivores do not affect the amount of damage caused by each other-the impact that a certain amount of herbivore damage has on a host plant's fitness may depend on the amount of damage inflicted by a second species.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Why fitness impacts of different herbivores may combine nonadditively, and why it matters to the ecology and evolution of plant-herbivore communities

Wise¹

2023

plecevo

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Background and aims – The manner by which the effects of multiple antagonists combine is a fundamental issue in ecology. This issue has been especially important in plant-herbivore evolutionary ecology—particularly predicting whether the combined fitness impacts of multiple herbivores on a shared host plant can be inferred by simply adding the individual impacts that each herbivore has when feeding alone. Despite accumulating empirical data, relatively little theoretical progress has been made in explaining why impacts of herbivore damage often combine nonadditively, as well as predicting the conditions that lead to a greater-than-additive (synergistic) or to a less-than-additive (subadditive) pattern. Material and methods – Based on considerations of limiting resources and source-sink relationships, I proposed and tested two hypotheses: 1) The fitness impacts of two species of herbivores that affect the same resource (i.e. feed on the same tissue in a similar fashion) will combine in a synergistic pattern (if that resource is not limiting reproduction when plants do not experience herbivory), and 2) The fitness impacts of two herbivores that affect different resources (i.e. feed on different tissues) will combine in a subadditive pattern. I performed a field experiment in which horsenettle (Solanum carolinense) was exposed to a factorial combination of four levels of leaf herbivory and five levels of simulated floral herbivory. Key results – The results were consistent with both hypotheses: 1) The combined fitness impact of flower damage that was simulated as being caused by two florivorous species feeding on the same plants was greater than the sum of the same total amount of damage when the two species were simulated as feeding individually; and 2) The combined fitness impact of the leaf and floral damage was less than the sum of the same total amount of damage when the two species fed individually. Conclusions – The main ecoevolutionary implication of these results is that subadditive impacts of leaf- and flower-feeding herbivores could weaken selection for resistance in horsenettle (or any plant species that hosts multiple herbivores), and thus subadditive impacts may contribute to the maintenance of diverse herbivore communities sharing a species of host plant.

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“…The two species have similar lifecycles lasting 12-24 weeks and encompassing three developmental stages (egg, nymph, and adult), with four distinct nymphal stages [31]. Both species feed on sap and compete for space [26]. O. philococcus is a multivoltine species that undergoes four reproductive events per year, whereas T. martinezae is bivoltine [32,33].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Temporal Dynamics of Competition for Space between Two Phytophagous Hemiptera Associated with the Garambullo<em> Myrtillocactus geometrizans</em>

Moncada-Orellana¹,

Callejas-Chavero²,

Sánchez-Colón³

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Interspecific competition between herbivorous insects is a major selection pressure affecting the distribution, abundance, and structure of their populations. Facilitator-mediated interactions, such as mutualism, can influence competition. Furthermore, the temporal dynamics of competitive relationships affect the interaction’s outcome. Here, we re-evaluated the data on the competition for space between two herbivorous insects commonly known as scales (Toumeyella martinezae and Opuntiaspis philococcus) in either the presence or absence of Liometopum apiculatum (a mutualistic species of T. martinezae) and its variations over time. We selected 27 Myrtillocactus geometrizans plants on which the studied insects were present; the plants were classified into one of five different conditions: either of the scale species were present on the plant, without its competitor; T. martinezae with neither its mutualistic species nor the competitor; and both scale species competing in either presence or absence of the mutualistic species. We kept a photographic record of each condition, measured the size of (as an indicator of the development stage) and area occupied by the individual scales, estimated the total coverage of each scale species, and assessed their relative occupation of space and their competitive intensity. We found temporal variations in competitive intensity. T. martinezae occupied more space during the first months, whereas O. philococcus did so towards the end of the study period. The population structure changed over time and between species, affecting the competitive interactions. In conclusion, the dynamics of competition change over time, and the mutualistic species has a positive effect on T. martinezae when the scales are in competition. However, temporal variations resulting from changes in the life cycle of the scales allow the two competitors to coexist in the same place at the same time.

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Herbivory in Cacti: Fitness Effects of Two Herbivores, One Tending Ant on Myrtillocactus geometrizans (Cactaceae)

Cited by 4 publications

References 84 publications

Herbivory in Myrtillocactus geometrizans (Cactaceae): Do Parasitoids Provide Indirect Defense or a Direct Advantage?

Herbivory in Myrtillocactus geometrizans (Cactaceae): Do Parasitoids Provide Indirect Defense or a Direct Advantage?

Why fitness impacts of different herbivores may combine nonadditively, and why it matters to the ecology and evolution of plant-herbivore communities

Temporal Dynamics of Competition for Space between Two Phytophagous Hemiptera Associated with the Garambullo<em> Myrtillocactus geometrizans</em>

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