Potential for exploitative competition, not intraguild predation, between invasive harlequin ladybirds and flowerbugs in urban parks

Andy G Howe; Hans Peter Ravn; Christian Bressen Pipper; Alexandre Aebi

doi:10.1007/s10530-015-1024-y

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Potential for exploitative competition, not intraguild predation, between invasive harlequin ladybirds and flowerbugs in urban parks

Journal article

Peer reviewed

Potential for exploitative competition, not intraguild predation, between invasive harlequin ladybirds and flowerbugs in urban parks

Andy G Howe, Hans Peter Ravn, Christian Bressen Pipper and Alexandre Aebi

Biological Invasions, Vol.18(2), pp.517-532

2016

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-015-1024-y

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Abstract

Community ecology (excl. invasive species ecology)

Ecology

Biosecurity science and invasive species ecology

Indirect effects

Molecular gut content

Anthocoris nemoralis

Harmonia axyridis

Eucallipterus tiliae

Predator-prey interactions

In aphidophagous insect communities invaded by the harlequin ladybird Harmonia axyridis Pallas (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae), intraguild predation (IGP) is widely implicated in the displacement of native predators, however, indirect trophic interactions are rarely assessed. Using molecular gut-content analysis, we investigated the relative frequencies of IGP by H. axyridis on the predatory flowerbug Anthocoris nemoralis Fabricius (Heteroptera: Anthocoridae) and prey overlap for a shared prey, the lime aphid Eucallipterus tiliae L. (Hemiptera: Aphididae), in Tilia x europaea crowns in urban parks. The frequency of IGP by H. axyridis was low: 2.7 % of larvae and 3.4 % of adults tested positive for A. nemoralis DNA. The presence of lime aphid DNA in predators was higher: 56.5 and 47.9 % of H. axyridis larvae and adults, respectively, contained E. tiliae DNA, whereas 60.8 % of adult A. nemoralis tested positive for aphid DNA. Incorporating insect densities revealed that the density of H. axyridis larvae had a strong negative effect on the likelihood of detecting aphid DNA in A. nemoralis. Prey overlap for E. tiliae was widespread in space (2-13 m height in tree crowns) and time (May-October 2011) which suggests that interspecific exploitative competition, mediated by predator life-stage, more so than IGP, is an important indirect trophic interaction between co-occurring H. axyridis and A. nemoralis. Whether exploitative competition equates to displacement of A. nemoralis populations requires further investigation. Our results emphasize the need to incorporate indirect interactions in studies of insect communities following invasion, not least because they potentially affect more species than direct interactions alone.

Details

Title: Potential for exploitative competition, not intraguild predation, between invasive harlequin ladybirds and flowerbugs in urban parks
Authors: Andy G Howe (Author) - University of Copenhagen
Hans Peter Ravn (Author) - University of Copenhagen
Christian Bressen Pipper (Author) - University of Copenhagen
Alexandre Aebi (Author) - University of Neuchâtel
Publication details: Biological Invasions, Vol.18(2), pp.517-532
Publisher: Springer Netherlands
DOI: 10.1007/s10530-015-1024-y
ISSN: 1573-1464
Organisation Unit: Forest Industries Research Centre; Forest Research Institute; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland
Language: English
Record Identifier: 99659594302621
Output Type: Journal article

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Collaboration types: Domestic collaboration; International collaboration
Web Of Science research areas: Biodiversity Conservation; Ecology

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