Parasitism rate, parasitoid community composition and host specificity on exposed and semi-concealed caterpillars from a tropical rainforest
Language English Country Germany Media print-electronic
Document type Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't, Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
- MeSH
- Diptera physiology MeSH
- Ecosystem MeSH
- Plant Physiological Phenomena MeSH
- Hymenoptera physiology MeSH
- Host-Parasite Interactions MeSH
- Larva parasitology MeSH
- Moths parasitology MeSH
- Food Chain * MeSH
- Biota * MeSH
- Feeding Behavior MeSH
- Tropical Climate MeSH
- Animals MeSH
- Check Tag
- Animals MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
- Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
- Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S. MeSH
- Geographicals
- Papua New Guinea MeSH
The processes maintaining the enormous diversity of herbivore-parasitoid food webs depend on parasitism rate and parasitoid host specificity. The two parameters have to be evaluated in concert to make conclusions about the importance of parasitoids as natural enemies and guide biological control. We document parasitism rate and host specificity in a highly diverse caterpillar-parasitoid food web encompassing 266 species of lepidopteran hosts and 172 species of hymenopteran or dipteran parasitoids from a lowland tropical forest in Papua New Guinea. We found that semi-concealed hosts (leaf rollers and leaf tiers) represented 84% of all caterpillars, suffered a higher parasitism rate than exposed caterpillars (12 vs. 5%) and their parasitoids were also more host specific. Semi-concealed hosts may therefore be generally more amenable to biological control by parasitoids than exposed ones. Parasitoid host specificity was highest in Braconidae, lower in Diptera: Tachinidae, and, unexpectedly, the lowest in Ichneumonidae. This result challenges the long-standing view of low host specificity in caterpillar-attacking Tachinidae and suggests higher suitability of Braconidae and lower suitability of Ichneumonidae for biological control of caterpillars. Semi-concealed hosts and their parasitoids are the largest, yet understudied component of caterpillar-parasitoid food webs. However, they still remain much closer in parasitism patterns to exposed hosts than to what literature reports on fully concealed leaf miners. Specifically, semi-concealed hosts keep an equally low share of idiobionts (2%) as exposed caterpillars.
See more in PubMed
Nature. 2004 Mar 18;428(6980):310-3 PubMed
Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 1999 Nov 29;354(1391):1811-24 PubMed
Adv Parasitol. 2003;54:69-100 PubMed
Mol Ecol Resour. 2011 Sep;11(5):786-94 PubMed
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2007 Mar 20;104(12):4967-72 PubMed
Am Nat. 2010 Jul;176(1):90-5 PubMed
J Anim Ecol. 2010 Nov;79(6):1193-203 PubMed
Nature. 2002 May 9;417(6885):170-3 PubMed
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2008 Aug 26;105(34):12359-64 PubMed
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2006 Mar 7;103(10):3657-62 PubMed
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010 Mar 16;107(11):5041-6 PubMed
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2005 Nov 29;102(48):17384-7 PubMed
Proc Biol Sci. 2002 Nov 22;269(1507):2337-44 PubMed
Nature. 2007 Aug 9;448(7154):692-5 PubMed
Science. 2006 Aug 25;313(5790):1115-8 PubMed
PLoS One. 2011;6(7):e14424 PubMed
Plant phylogeny drives arboreal caterpillar assemblages across the Holarctic
Vertical stratification of a temperate forest caterpillar community in eastern North America
The Effects of Aphid Traits on Parasitoid Host Use and Specialist Advantage
