Predator efficiency reconsidered for a ladybird-aphid system

Kindlmann, Pavel; Yasuda, Hironori; Kajita, Yukie; Sato, Satoru; Dixon, A. F. G.

doi:10.3389/fevo.2015.00027

Cited by 27 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…parasitic wasps) are most effective in reducing aphid populations (Diehl et al, 2013). However, in the field, it has never been proved that aphidophagous predators such as ladybirds can effectively control aphid populations, as they do not have a consistently negative effect on the maximum number of aphids (generation time ratio hypothesis; Kindlmann & Dixon, 1999;Kindlmann et al, 2015). Additionally, the effect of aphidophagous predators can also be reduced due to the protective service offered by mutualistic ants (e.g.…”

Section: Predatorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Habitat variation, mutualism and predation shape the spatio‐temporal dynamics of tansy aphids

Senft

Weisser

Zytynska

2017

Ecological Entomology

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1. Spatially distributed resources can lead to the formation of metapopulations, where individual subpopulations are often small and can experience frequent local extinction events followed by recolonisation. An example of terrestrial metapopulations are specialised phytophagous insects on their patchily distributed host plants.2. The present study investigated the population dynamics of a specialised aphid (Metopeurum fuscoviride) on its patchily distributed host plant (Tanacetum vulgare) and associated community of mutualistic ants and predators in a small-scale field site. Furthermore, aphid habitat differences (plant size, C/N ratio, location and surrounding vegetation) were quantified, and seasonal timing and precipitation were considered.3. Seasonal timing and precipitation both had effects on aphid colonisation, extinction events and aphid colony persistence. Towards the end of the season, and after higher precipitation, aphid colonisation events decreased and extinction events increased. Plant size and location as well as aphid within-field dispersal determined the spatio-temporal distribution of aphid colonies.4. Mutualistic ants (Lasius niger and Myrmica rubra) increased the chance of establishment of aphid colonies. However, when M. rubra was tending, aphid colony persistence was reduced. Aphid persistence and extinction were dependent on aphid abundance, as a higher colony size reduced the probability of extinction by predation.5. The results emphasise the importance of dispersal limitation, population growth and the presence of mutualists when studying the spatio-temporal dynamics of tansy aphids, particularly in a small-scale field site.

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Section: Predatorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Habitat variation, mutualism and predation shape the spatio‐temporal dynamics of tansy aphids

Senft

Weisser

Zytynska

2017

Ecological Entomology

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“…Ladybeetles are often viewed as effective biological control agents of aphids, and small-scale experiments frequently show that they strongly suppress aphid populations (Cardinale, Harvey, Gross, & Ives, 2003;Minoretti & Weisser, 2000;Snyder, Finke, & Snyder, 2008). However, in larger scale field experiments and observations, ladybeetles often fail to control aphid populations (Dixon, 2000;Iperti, 1999;Kindlmann et al, 2015). This discrepancy could be due not only to the spatial aggregation of ladybeetles and aphids associated with spatial scale, as we have shown in this study, but perhaps also to differences in methodology of studies conducted at different spatial scales.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Aphid populations often possess strong spatial turnover (e.g., Weisser & Härri, 2005), also indicating that the colonization-extinction processes emphasized in metapopulation models may be important for their population dynamics. Despite the strong impact of individual ladybeetles on individual aphid colonies (Minoretti & Weisser, 2000), the effectiveness of ladybeetles in suppressing aphid populations at large spatial scales is variable (Kindlmann, Yasuda, Sato, Kajita, & Dixon, 2015). These different lines of evidence suggest that some ladybeetle-aphid systems might persist at large spatial scales as metacommunities consisting of patches with and without predators, and that results from individual patches cannot be scaled up to the landscape without understanding the metacommunity dynamics.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predator–prey interactions in a ladybeetle–aphid system depend on spatial scale

Lin

Pennings

2018

Ecology and Evolution

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The outcome of species interactions may manifest differently at different spatial scales; therefore, our interpretation of observed interactions will depend on the scale at which observations are made. For example, in ladybeetle–aphid systems, the results from small‐scale cage experiments usually cannot be extrapolated to landscape‐scale field observations. To understand how ladybeetle–aphid interactions change across spatial scales, we evaluated predator–prey interactions in an experimental system. The experimental habitat consisted of 81 potted plants and was manipulated to facilitate analysis across four spatial scales. We also simulated a spatially explicit metacommunity model parallel to the experiment. In the experiment, we found that the negative effect of ladybeetles on aphids decreased with increasing spatial scales. This pattern can be explained by ladybeetles strongly suppressing aphids at small scales, but not colonizing distant patches fast enough to suppress aphids at larger scales. In the experiment, the positive effects of aphids on ladybeetles were strongest at three‐plant scale. In a model scenario where predators did not have demographic dynamics, we found, consistent with the experiment, that both the effects of ladybeetles on aphids and the effects of aphids on ladybeetles decreased with increasing spatial scales. These patterns suggest that dispersal was the primary cause of ladybeetle population dynamics in our experiment: aphids increased ladybeetle numbers at smaller scales because ladybeetles stayed in a patch longer and performed area‐restricted searches after encountering aphids; these behaviors did not affect ladybeetle numbers at larger spatial scales. The parallel experimental and model results illustrate how predator–prey interactions can change across spatial scales, suggesting that our interpretation of observed predator–prey dynamics would differ if observations were made at different scales. This study demonstrates how studying ecological interactions at a range of scales can help link the results of small‐scale ecological experiments to landscape‐scale ecological problems.

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“…In addressing the question why the rates of development of ladybirds reflect that of their prey, we have arrived at an evolutionary explanation that provides further support for the generation time ratio (GTR) hypothesis (Dixon and Kindlmann 1998;Dixon 1999, 2001), which predicts that those predators that develop faster than their prey are likely to control the abundance of their prey and those that develop slower do not. This prediction is supported by the failures and successes of classical biological control programs in which ladybirds are the predators (Dixon 2000) and empirical data (Mills 2006;Kindlmann et al 2015). Thus, when considering the use of natural enemies in classical biological programs, it is important to be aware that their role in determining the abundance of their prey should not be measured in terms of their potential voracity but in their foraging behaviour, which determines their fitness.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolution of slow and fast development in predatory ladybirds

Dixon

Sato

Kindlmann

2015

J Applied Entomology

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The frequency distribution of the durations of development of 516 larvae of Adalia bipunctata is unimodal, and the fast-and slow-developing larvae can be identified at the beginning of the fourth (=last) instar. To determine the advantages of fast and slow development, the survival, duration of development, growth and number of aphids consumed by fast-and slow-developing fourth instar larvae fed different numbers aphids were recorded. The percentages of fast-and slow-developing fourth instar larvae that survived when fed 0.5, 1 or an excess of aphids per day, surprisingly, did not differ. The slow-developing larvae of both sexes took longer to complete their development than the fast-developing larvae when fed 1 or an excess of aphids per day, and although the weights of the fast-and slow-developing fourth instar larvae differed at the beginning of the instar, they did not differ at the end of this instar when fed 1 aphid per day. However, when reared on an excess of aphids per day, the adult weights of the fast-developing individuals was greater than that of slowdeveloping individuals. The average durations for which the larvae in the two groups survived when fed 0.5 aphids/day differed with the larvae of the fast-developing individuals surviving for 9.8 AE 0.5 days and slowdeveloping individuals 17 AE 1.3 days. Assuming that it is the rate of predator biomass increase, which is maximized by evolution, a model of the relationship between the rate of development/growth of a predator and that of its prey indicates that the optimum growth rate of a predator is positively associated with that of its prey. The evolutionary implications of these results are discussed.

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Predator efficiency reconsidered for a ladybird-aphid system

Cited by 27 publications

References 33 publications

Habitat variation, mutualism and predation shape the spatio‐temporal dynamics of tansy aphids

Habitat variation, mutualism and predation shape the spatio‐temporal dynamics of tansy aphids

Predator–prey interactions in a ladybeetle–aphid system depend on spatial scale

Evolution of slow and fast development in predatory ladybirds

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