Emergence asynchrony between herbivores leads to apparent competition in the field

It has been established that herbivore populations can be structured by apparent competition, even if they do not compete directly for resources. But we lack evidence on the mechanisms behind such indirect competition. This study shows that temporal asynchronies in emergence time lead to apparent competition via shared natural enemies in a leafminer-parasitoid community. We present three kinds of evidence on mechanisms driving apparent competition. First, we conducted a two-year population census of Liriomyza helianthi and Calycomyza platyptera, along with all associated parasitoids, at seven sites in the Californian Central Valley, USA. We then assessed C. platyptera parasitism on 16 vegetation islands, half with experimental removal of early-season L. helianthi populations. Finally, we examined parasitoid host preference between leafminer species. We found that Liriomyza helianthi populations emerged approximately one month before C. platyptera. Experimental removal of L. helianthi populations in the early summer led to a 60% reduction in parasitism of C. platyptera. We found no evidence of differential parasitoid preference for host species. The findings suggest that temporal asynchrony can lead to negative effects on later-emerging species and that such indirect competition may be a major structuring force in herbivore communities.