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Apparent competition drives community-wide parasitism rates and changes in host abundance across ecosystem boundaries

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  • Carol M. Frost

    (Centre for Integrative Ecology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury
    Present address: Department of Forest Ecology and Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Skogsmarksgränd, 90183 Umeå, Sweden)

  • Guadalupe Peralta

    (Centre for Integrative Ecology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury
    Present address: Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas, CONICET, CC 507, 5500 Mendoza, Argentina)

  • Tatyana A. Rand

    (USDA-ARS Northern Plains Agricultural Research Laboratory)

  • Raphael K. Didham

    (School of Animal Biology, The University of Western Australia
    CSIRO Land & Water, Centre for Environment and Life Sciences)

  • Arvind Varsani

    (Centre for Integrative Ecology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury
    Biomolecular Interaction Centre, University of Canterbury
    Structural Biology Research Unit, University of Cape Town, Observatory
    University of Florida)

  • Jason M. Tylianakis

    (Centre for Integrative Ecology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury
    Imperial College London)

Abstract

Species have strong indirect effects on others, and predicting these effects is a central challenge in ecology. Prey species sharing an enemy (predator or parasitoid) can be linked by apparent competition, but it is unknown whether this process is strong enough to be a community-wide structuring mechanism that could be used to predict future states of diverse food webs. Whether species abundances are spatially coupled by enemy movement across different habitats is also untested. Here, using a field experiment, we show that predicted apparent competitive effects between species, mediated via shared parasitoids, can significantly explain future parasitism rates and herbivore abundances. These predictions are successful even across edges between natural and managed forests, following experimental reduction of herbivore densities by aerial spraying of insecticide over 20 hectares. This result shows that trophic indirect effects propagate across networks and habitats in important, predictable ways, with implications for landscape planning, invasion biology and biological control.

Suggested Citation

  • Carol M. Frost & Guadalupe Peralta & Tatyana A. Rand & Raphael K. Didham & Arvind Varsani & Jason M. Tylianakis, 2016. "Apparent competition drives community-wide parasitism rates and changes in host abundance across ecosystem boundaries," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 7(1), pages 1-12, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:7:y:2016:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms12644
    DOI: 10.1038/ncomms12644
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    Cited by:

    1. Lucas P. Martins & Daniel B. Stouffer & Pedro G. Blendinger & Katrin Böhning-Gaese & Galo Buitrón-Jurado & Marta Correia & José Miguel Costa & D. Matthias Dehling & Camila I. Donatti & Carine Emer & M, 2022. "Global and regional ecological boundaries explain abrupt spatial discontinuities in avian frugivory interactions," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-13, December.

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