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Size structure and substitutability in an odonate intraguild predation system

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Abstract

Interactions between different size classes of predator species have the potential to influence survival of prey species in intraguild predation (IGP) systems, but few studies test for these effects. Using a substitutive design in a field setting, I measured the effects of two size classes of IG predators (large and small larvae of the dragonfly Anax junius) on the mortality of IG prey (larvae of the dragonfly Pachydiplax longipennis). I also examined whether combinations of large A. junius and P. longipennis and small A. junius and P. longipennis had substitutable effects on shared prey (larvae of the damselfly Ischnura verticalis). The presence of both size classes of A. junius, when alone and in combination with P. longipennis, significantly increased mortality of I. verticalis. In the presence of P. longipennis, large and small A. junius had similar effects on the mortality of I. verticalis, and effects of size-structured assemblages of A. junius were similar to the effects of each size class alone at the same density. The effects of the two size classes of A. junius on P. longipennis differed, and P. longipennis mortality was lower when exposed to size structured assemblages of A. junius than when exposed to only large A. junius at the same density. Results were similar to those in a laboratory study, although the effect of P. longipennis on I. verticalis was much lower in the field setting. These results demonstrate that interactions between different size classes of IG predators promote the survival of IG prey and highlight the importance of within-species size structure as a characteristic that may promote the coexistence of predators in IGP systems.

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Acknowledgements

I thank Philip Crowley and Andrew Sih for their support and guidance during this study and Melissa Zwick for her encouragement and logistical support. I thank Stephen Moore for his enthusiastic assistance in conducting the fieldwork. Jay Rosenheim and two anonymous reviewers provided valuable feedback that improved this paper. This study was funded by a grant from the Ribble Research Fund at the University of Kentucky and National Science Foundation Grant DEB-0206549 to Patrick Crumrine and Philip Crowley.

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  1. Patrick W. Crumrine

    Present address: Department of Natural Sciences, Longwood University, Farmville, VA, 23909, USA

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  1. Department of Biology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, 40506-0225, USA

    Patrick W. Crumrine

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Communicated by Jay Rosenheim

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Crumrine, P.W. Size structure and substitutability in an odonate intraguild predation system. Oecologia 145, 132–139 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-005-0084-6

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