Ecological Trade-Offs, Resource Partitioning, and Coexistence in a Host-Parasitoid Assemblage

Two or more species cannot coexist on a single limiting resource in a constant environment unless each species can increase when rare. In this paper, we show, theoretically and empirically, how trade-offs in life history characters have the potential to mitigate the effects of interspecific competit...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ecology (Durham) 2002-04, Vol.83 (4), p.925-934
Main Authors: Bonsall, Michael B., Hassell, Michael P., Asefa, Gebre
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
age-structured model
Animal and plant ecology
Animal ecology
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Animals
Asobara
Biological and medical sciences
Demecology
Drosophila
Ecological competition
Ecological life histories
Ecology
Ecology of Parasites and Parasitoids
Flowers & plants
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
host–parasitoid assemblage
interspecific competition
Larvae
Leptopilina
Natural resources
Parasite hosts
Parasites
Parasitism
Parasitoids
persistence
population dynamics
Protozoa. Invertebrata
Species
Studies
Synecology
Terrestrial ecosystems
Young animals
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Summary:Two or more species cannot coexist on a single limiting resource in a constant environment unless each species can increase when rare. In this paper, we show, theoretically and empirically, how trade-offs in life history characters have the potential to mitigate the effects of interspecific competition and promote persistence in a host-multiparasitoid interaction. Theoretically, we show how niche partitioning between competing parasitoids can arise through differences in resource breadth and utilization. We demonstrate, empirically, how trade-offs between parasitoid larval competitive ability and wasp life history characters (adult wasp longevity and the ability to paralyze hosts) can be mediated. Differences, not only in the mean, but also in the variance of these life history traits can influence the outcome of competition, and we discuss how species life history trade-offs can promote species coexistence.
ISSN:0012-9658
1939-9170
DOI:10.1890/0012-9658(2002)083[0925:ETORPA]2.0.CO;2