Multiple prey effects: Agonistic behaviors between prey species enhances consumption by their shared predator

Toscano, Benjamin J.; Fodrie, F.J.; Madsen, S.; Powers, Sean P.

doi:10.1016/j.jembe.2010.01.001

Cited by 19 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…We manipulated the size and therefore the palatability of the species in the resource community to investigate these mechanisms. However, other properties such as nutrition (Sterner et al 1993), chemical (DeMott 1999 and mechanical defenses, infochemicals (Vos et al 2001), and behavior (Toscano et al 2010) may also influence the palatability of resource species and therefore rates of consumption in diverse communities. We expect that incorporating these properties and mechanisms into food web models will improve our understanding of complex community dynamics.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Previous studies have rarely separated consumption effects from population responses, and so the relative importance of each has not yet been elucidated (Edwards et al 2009). Among the few direct tests of the influence of resource species diversity on rates of consumption, neutral effects (DeMott 1998), positive effects (Pfisterer et al 2003, Toscano et al 2010, and negative effects (DeMott 1999, Kratina et al 2007, Wyckmans et al 2007) have been demonstrated. The variability in the effect of resource diversity likely stems from the importance of the palatability of the resource species in the community and the feeding selectivity of the consumer (suggested in Duffy 2002, Thebault and Loreau 2005, Jactel and Brockerhoff 2007.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Community composition and consumer identity determine the effect of resource species diversity on rates of consumption

Narwani

2010

Ecology

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Abstract. The effect of species diversity on ecosystem function is commonly studied within a single trophic level, but less is known about how resource diversity affects species interactions between trophic levels. We conducted a grazing experiment to determine how resource species diversity affects rates of consumption by three species of freshwater zooplankton consumers. We measured the effect of resource diversity on rates of consumption for several resource community compositions. These compositions varied in terms of palatability for the consumers. The effect of resource diversity on consumption rates depended on the diet breadth of the consumer species (from specialist to generalist) and the community composition of resources. Overall, high resource diversity commonly caused a decline in consumption rates of consumers. The most selective grazer showed reduced consumption for nearly all community compositions, whereas the most generalist grazer showed accelerated consumption when all resource species were palatable. Our results demonstrate that resource species diversity can modulate rates of consumption through the action of multiple different mechanisms.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Community composition and consumer identity determine the effect of resource species diversity on rates of consumption

Narwani

2010

Ecology

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“…Hundreds of studies over more than two decades document various types of TMII, including top down effects in linear interaction chains (e.g., Wissinger and McGrady 1993), bottom up effects in linear interaction chains (e.g., Anholt and Werner 1995), interactions with multiple predators that share the same prey (Sih et al 1998), interactions with multiple prey that share the same predator (e.g., Toscano et al 2010), and numerous other more complex interaction webs (Werner and Peacor 2003). Reviews of these TMII and their roles in ecological communities have concluded that they are pervasive and that they provide an important community-structuring force, with effects equivalent to, if not greater than, indirect interactions transmitted through changes in density (Bolker et al 2003, Werner and Peacor 2003, Schmitz et al 2004, Luttbeg and Kerby 2005, Preisser et al 2005.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of individual behavior type in mediating indirect interactions

Griffen

Toscano

Gatto

2012

Ecology

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Abstract. Trait-mediated indirect interactions (TMII) play an important role in structuring natural communities, and numerous studies have experimentally demonstrated their presence in a variety of systems. However, these studies have largely examined the presence or absence of traits that are responsible for these interactions, without considering natural variation between individuals in the extent to which these traits are manifested. We used a well-documented TMII to investigate the importance of individual behavior type for determining the strength of the TMII. The toadfish Opsanus tau has an indirect positive influence on bivalve survival because the mud crab Panopeus herbstii, a consumer of bivalves, reduces foraging effort in the presence of toadfish. We quantified variation in the strength of persistent individual mud crab responses to toadfish and resulting variation in the strength of TMII. We demonstrate that the strength of this TMII is strongly influenced by mud crab size and behavior type, strengthening with the intensity of response of individual mud crabs to toadfish predator cues. Further, we demonstrate that the spatial distribution within intertidal oyster reefs of crabs with different behavior types is not random; mud crabs inhabiting subtidal areas, where predator cues are more persistent, are significantly less responsive to toadfish cues than mud crabs from intertidal areas. This spatial behavioral structure should lead to spatial variation in the strength of TMII. Given the widespread importance of TMII and the broad occurrence of individual personality or behavior types across numerous taxa, these results should be generally applicable. The distribution of behavior types within a population may therefore be a useful metric for improving our ability to predict the strength of TMII.

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“…This application of the substitutive design is analogous to that in species richness studies that alter the number of species while maintaining a constant overall density of individuals (e.g. Griffin et al 2008, Toscano et al 2010.We determined densities of each size class that are equivalent in total energy demand using a power-law metabolic rate model where the total energy demand of a population (T ) of mean body size (W ) is a function of the metabolic rate (I) of individuals times the number of individuals (N ) (Brown et al 2004, Chalcraft & Resetarits 2004:Metabolic rate (I) scales as a power-law function of body size with a scaling exponent of roughly 0.75 (Leffler 1973, Brown et al 2004. Thus, populations i and j of densities N and mean body sizes W have an equivalent total energy demand when the following equality is satisfied (Chalcraft & Resetarits 2004): (2) This energetic equivalence rule predicts that populations of equivalent total energy demand will have similar impacts on ecological processes related to metabolic rate (e.g.…”

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confidence: 99%

Predatory crab size diversity and bivalve consumption in oyster reefs

Toscano¹,

Griffen²

2012

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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Body size is widely recognized as an important functional trait of predators due to its influence on prey consumption rates and diet breadth. Yet it remains unclear how the diversity of this trait within predator populations affects prey communities. To test the effects of intraspecific predator size diversity, we manipulated the number of size classes (i.e. size diversity) in the xanthid crab Panopeus herbstii and measured their consumption of the bivalve community in intertidal oyster (Crassostrea virginica) reefs. In the experiment, the presence of large crabs, but not size diversity, significantly affected total prey biomass consumption. The largest size class of crabs effectively consumed all bivalve prey types whereas smaller crabs were restricted in diet breadth. As such, any treatment containing large crabs had significantly greater total prey consumption and more uniform consumption across the prey community than those without. We also investigated the potential for oyster harvest to alter crab population size structure at the study site (North Inlet, South Carolina, USA). Anthropogenic oyster harvest acts to compress the surficial shell layer in reefs and could reduce crab body size by reducing the availability of refuges for large crabs. Therefore, we tested for a relationship between the height of the shell layer and average crab body size in the field. In the field survey, average crab body size decreased with decreasing height of the shell layer. Thus, our data suggests that oyster harvesting practices have the potential to skew crab size structure towards a preponderance of small individuals, thereby compromising the trophic transfer that occurs in unperturbed reefs.KEY WORDS: Biodiversity · Crassostrea virginica · Functional trait · Intraspecific · Niche shift · Ontogenetic · Panopeus herbstii. Resale or republication not permitted without written consent of the publisherMar Ecol Prog Ser 445: 65-74, 2012 66 interspecific diversity) (Bruno & Cardinale 2008, Hillebrand & Matthiessen 2009, Reiss et al. 2009, Finke & Snyder 2010. These studies indicate that functional diversity (i.e. the range of functional traits among predator species), rather than richness per se, drives ecological processes such as prey suppression (Schmitz 2007, 2009, Bruno & Cardinale 2008. For example, crab species that consume different prey types fulfill complementary functional roles in the rocky intertidal (Griffin et al. 2008). Such resource partitioning allows greater resource use efficiency, thus enhancing ecological process rates (Finke & Snyder 2008, Griffin et al. 2008.Mechanisms such as resource partitioning could apply similarly to the ecological effects of intraspecific body size diversity. For example, the partitioning of food resources is common within predator species (Polis 1984), where small and large size classes of a predator often have non-overlapping diets (Stoner & Livingston 1984). Such ontogenetic (i.e. growth-related) shifts are widespread throughout fish, amphibians, reptiles and in...

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Multiple prey effects: Agonistic behaviors between prey species enhances consumption by their shared predator

Cited by 19 publications

References 47 publications

Community composition and consumer identity determine the effect of resource species diversity on rates of consumption

Community composition and consumer identity determine the effect of resource species diversity on rates of consumption

The role of individual behavior type in mediating indirect interactions

Predatory crab size diversity and bivalve consumption in oyster reefs

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