Indirect interaction between butterfly species mediated by a shared pupal parasitoid

Indirect interactions among species can greatly affect their abundances and the structure of the community they live in. Using a field experiment, we tested the hypothesis that congeneric butterfly species interact indirectly through a shared pupal parasitoid. We predicted that symmetrical apparent...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Population ecology 2012-04, Vol.54 (2), p.251-260
Main Authors: van Nouhuys, Saskya, Kraft, Thomas S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal populations
Apparent competition
Behavioral Sciences
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Butterflies & moths
Commensalism
Community
Community ecology
Competition
Ecology
Evolutionary Biology
Experiments
Foraging behavior
Foraging behaviour
Forestry
Life Sciences
Melitaea cinxia
Original Article
Parasites
Parasitism
Plant Sciences
Population
Population density
Predation
Pteromalus apum
Zoology
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Summary:Indirect interactions among species can greatly affect their abundances and the structure of the community they live in. Using a field experiment, we tested the hypothesis that congeneric butterfly species interact indirectly through a shared pupal parasitoid. We predicted that symmetrical apparent competition would lead to high parasitism of both species, and the effect would increase with regional butterfly abundance. Instead, parasitism of one host, Melitaea cinxia , was reduced in the presence of the second host, M . athalia . Parasitism of M . athalia did not differ whether or not M . cinxia was present. This pattern did not vary with regional butterfly abundance, though overall rate of parasitism did. Details of the experiment suggest that the apparent commensalism occurred because M . cinxia pupae are protected by silk tents whereas M . athalia are exposed, causing locally foraging parasitoids to favour the more accessible host where the two are present together. The local short-term apparent commensalism favouring M . cinxia opposes the landscape scale trend, in which parasitism increases where butterfly density is high. The outcome of this study illustrates short-term apparent commensalism, that host suitability can depend on relative accessibility, and that indirect interactions occurring at different scales may be in opposition.
ISSN:1438-3896
1438-390X
DOI:10.1007/s10144-011-0302-5