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Parasitism on seed predators overcomes the detrimental effects of defoliation on plant fitness in a tritrophic system

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Abstract

It is widely recognised that the interaction between plants and herbivores cannot be completely understood if the natural enemies of the latter are not included. Most studies looking at the effects of herbivores and their enemies on plant fitness only consider one herbivore species or guild; however, plants in nature usually face the attack of more than one herbivore guild simultaneously and these herbivores may have a non-additive effect on the attraction with bodyguards and plant fitness. In this study, we asked whether folivory affects the activity of parasitoids on seed predators and whether this effect cascades down to plant fitness. We assessed these questions in a tritrophic system: the plant Ruellia nudiflora, its pre-dispersal seed predators and the parasitoids of the latter. Plants were submitted to either 50 % artificial defoliation or no defoliation (control). The number of seeds, fruit production and parasitoid incidence was assessed periodically in both sets of plants. Parasitoids indirectly and positively affected seed number, while defoliation had a direct negative effect on the number of seeds and an indirect negative effect on parasitoid incidence. However, the combined effect of defoliation and seed predation increased the indirect positive effect of the parasitoids on seed production, which overcame the negative effects of defoliation.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Luis M. Arias for his support in collecting data and helping with plant maintenance in the nursery. Bianca Delfosse revised the English. This study was funded by the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologia (CONACyT), projects CB-2012-177680 and INFR-2013-205-735. Complementary funds were provided by the Centro de Investigación y Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politécnico Nacional (CINVESTAV), Unidad Mérida.

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  1. Laboratorio de Ecología Terrestre, Centro de Investigación y Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politécnico Nacional (CINVESTAV), Km 6, Antigua Carretera a Progreso, C.P. 97310, Mérida, Mexico

    Miguel A. Munguía-Rosas, Adolfo León & Daniela A. Martínez-Natarén

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  1. Miguel A. Munguía-Rosas
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  2. Adolfo León
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  3. Daniela A. Martínez-Natarén
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Correspondence to Miguel A. Munguía-Rosas.

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Munguía-Rosas, M.A., León, A. & Martínez-Natarén, D.A. Parasitism on seed predators overcomes the detrimental effects of defoliation on plant fitness in a tritrophic system. Arthropod-Plant Interactions 10, 535–543 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11829-016-9459-3

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