Summary
By eliminating the food plant, Asclepias curassavica, monarch butterflies, Danaus plexippus, have virtually eliminated milkweed bugs, Oncopeltus spp., from the island of Barbados. The relatively open terrain of Barbados means the plants have no refuge; the butterflies survive on an alternate milkweed food plant, Calotropis procera, whose thick-walled pods make seeds unavailable to the bugs.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Blakley, N.R.: Evolutionary responses to environmental heterogeneity in milkweed bugs (Oncopeltus: Hemiptera: Lygaeidae). Ph. D. Thesis, University of Iowa (1977)
Brown, J.H., Davidson, D.D.: Competition between seed-eating rodents and ants in desert ecosystems. Science 196, 880–882 (1977)
Brown, J.H., Grover, J.J., Davidson, D.W., Lieberman, G.A.: A preliminary study of seed predation in desert and montane habitats. Ecology 56, 987–992 (1975)
Cody, M.L., Diamond, J.M. (eds.): Ecology and evolution of communities. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press 1975
Dingle, H.: Migration and diapause in tropical, temperate, and island milkweed bugs. In: Evolution of insect migration and diapause (H. Dingle, ed.), pp. 254–276. Berlin-Heidelberg-New York: Springer 1978
Gooding, E.G.B., Loveless, A.R., Proctor, G.R.: Flora of Barbados. London: H.M. Stationary Office 1965
Hansen, R.M., Ueckert, D.M.: Dietary similarity of some primary consumers. Ecology 51, 640–648 (1970)
Janzen, D.H.: Host plants as islands in evolutionary and contemporary time. Am. Nat. 102, 592–595 (1968)
Janzen, D.H.: Host plants as islands. II. Competition in evolutionary and contemporary time. Am. Nat. 107, 786–790 (1973)
MacArthur, R.H.: Geographical ecology. New York: Harper & Row 1972
Pianka, E.R.: Competition and niche theory. In: Theoretical ecology. Principles and applications (R.M., May, ed.), pp. 114–141. Philadelphia: Saunders 1976
Ralph, C.P.: Natural food requirements of the large milkweed bug, Oncopeltus fasciatus (Hemiptera: Lygaeidae), and their relation to gregariousness and host plant morphology. Oecologia (Berl.) 26, 157–175 (1976)
Schoener, T.W.: Resource partitioning in ecological communities. Science 185, 27–39 (1974)
Watts, D.: Man's influence on the vegetation of Barbados 1627–1800. Occ. Papers Geog. 4. Hull: University of Hull Publications 1966
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Blakley, N.R., Dingle, H. Competition: Butterflies eliminate milkweed bugs from a Caribbean Island. Oecologia 37, 133–136 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00349999
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00349999