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Parasitism and Food Web Structure in Defoliating Lepidoptera – Parasitoid Communities on Soybean

  • Biological Control
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Abstract

Food webs are usually regarded as snapshots of community feeding interactions. Here, we describe the yearly and cumulative structure of parasitoid–caterpillar food webs on soybean in central Argentina, analyzing parasitism rates and their variability in relation to parasitoid diversity and food web vulnerability in the system. Lepidoptera larvae were collected along four seasons from soybean crops and reared in laboratory to obtain and identify adults and parasitoids. Eleven species of defoliating Lepidoptera and ten parasitoid species were recorded. Food web statistics showed rather low annual variability, with most variation coefficients in the order of 0.20 and generality showing the most stable values. Parasitism showed the highest variability, which was independent of parasitoid diversity and food web vulnerability, although parasitism rates were negatively related to parasitoid richness. Our study highlights the need to consider food web structure and variability in order to understand the functioning of ecological communities in general and in extensive agricultural ecosystems in particular.

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Acknowledgments

We are thankful to N. La Porta, V. Mazzuferi, and G. Serra for field and laboratory assistance, P. Fichetti (Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina) for Lepidoptera identification, C. Berta (Instituto M. Lillo, Argentina), C. Porter (Fordham University, USA), J. O᾿Hara, and M. Wood (Agriculture and Agri Food, Canada) for parasitoid identification, and two anonymous referees for helpful suggestions. The project was supported by SECYT, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. GV is a CONICET researcher.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Facultad de Ciencias Agropecuarias, Univ Nacional de Córdoba, Av. Valparaíso S/N, Ciudad Universitaria, Córdoba, Argentina

    D S Avalos

  2. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales, UNC, Córdoba, Argentina

    A Mangeaud

  3. Centro de Investigaciones Entomológicas de Córdoba, Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal (CONICET-UNC), Córdoba, Argentina

    G R Valladares

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  1. D S Avalos
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  2. A Mangeaud
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  3. G R Valladares
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Correspondence to D S Avalos.

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Edited by Marcelo N Rossi – UNIFESP

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Avalos, D.S., Mangeaud, A. & Valladares, G.R. Parasitism and Food Web Structure in Defoliating Lepidoptera – Parasitoid Communities on Soybean. Neotrop Entomol 45, 712–717 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13744-016-0416-8

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