The influence of a parasitoid's response to temperature on the performance of a tri-trophic food web

1. Food web interactions are complex and can respond to environmental changes in unpredictable ways that do not necessarily equate to the individual responses of each of the components of the food web. 2. Biomass can be used to evaluate the productivity of the three individual trophic levels, in the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ecological entomology 2016-08, Vol.41 (4), p.431-441
Main Authors: FLORES-MEJIA, SANDRA, GUAY, JEAN-FRÉDÉRIC, FOURNIER, VALÉRIE, CLOUTIER, CONRAD
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aphididae
Aphidius ervi
bell pepper
Braconidae
Capsicum annuum
climate change
Hemiptera
high tolerable temperature
Hymenoptera
Macrosiphum euphorbiae
optimal temperature
plant-herbivore-parasitoid interaction
potato
Solanum tuberosum
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Summary:1. Food web interactions are complex and can respond to environmental changes in unpredictable ways that do not necessarily equate to the individual responses of each of the components of the food web. 2. Biomass can be used to evaluate the productivity of the three individual trophic levels, in the form of the N et G enerational P roductivity ( NGP ) and the performance of the entire food web with the newly developed tri‐trophic food web performance ratio (ϕ 3t ). 3. These parameters were used to evaluate the performance of nine plant‐based tri‐trophic food webs composed of: potato, S olanum tuberosum L. and two cultivars of bell pepper C apsicum annuum L ; three biotypes of the aphid M acrosiphum euphorbiae T homas ( H emiptera: A phididae) and the parasitoid wasp A phidius ervi ( H aliday) ( H ymenoptera: B raconidae). 4. The NGP showed that the thermal window for biomass productivity for each trophic level is different and is reduced by approximately 4 ° C with respect to the inferior level. A phidius ervi had the smallest thermal window for biomass productivity and development. 5. The present results showed that the performance (ϕ 3t ) of the tested food webs is influenced in a top‐down fashion, where the intra‐specific variation of the food web, namely the host plant, played a major role in the productivity of each of the subsequent trophic levels. 6. The ϕ 3t suggested that exposure to high and low temperatures might severely affect the effectiveness of A. ervi as a biocontrol agent of the aphid M. euphorbiae in bell pepper and potato crops.
ISSN:0307-6946
1365-2311
DOI:10.1111/een.12318