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Linking Predation Risk, Herbivore Physiological Stress and Microbial Decomposition of Plant Litter
Published on: March 12, 2013
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Warming impact on herbivore population composition affects top-down control by predators.
Ying-Jie Wang1, Takefumi Nakazawa2, Chuan-Kai Ho3,4
1Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Scientific Reports
|April 21, 2017
Summary
Warming impacts herbivore composition, not size, enhancing predator biocontrol of pests like aphids. This shift in population traits influences colonization dynamics in agricultural systems under climate change.
Area of Science:
- Ecology
- Climate Change Biology
- Agricultural Entomology
Background:
- Understanding warming's effects on herbivores is crucial for predicting plant and crop dynamics.
- Warming's impact on herbivore population size and composition, and subsequent colonization, remains unclear.
- Tri-trophic systems (plant-herbivore-predator) are key to agricultural pest management and ecosystem stability.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how warming affects aphid population size and composition (alate proportion).
- To determine if warming-induced effects on aphids interact with lady beetle predators to influence aphid colonization.
- To assess the potential for enhanced biocontrol of crop pests under warming conditions.
Main Methods:
- Laboratory warming experiment: exposed soybean aphids to +2°C and +4°C to measure population size and alate proportion.
- Field colonization experiment: examined the interaction between warming-induced aphid traits and lady beetle presence on aphid colonization.
- Utilized a soybean-aphid-lady beetle system as a model tri-trophic interaction.
Main Results:
- Warming significantly altered aphid population composition by reducing the proportion of winged aphids (alates).
- Warming did not affect the overall aphid population size.
- Reduced alate proportion under warming enhanced top-down control by lady beetles, slowing aphid colonization.
- Aphid colonization was influenced by the interaction between alate proportion and lady beetle presence.
Conclusions:
- Warming influences herbivore population composition, which mediates predator control and affects colonization.
- Biocontrol of crop pests by predators may be enhanced under moderate warming (2-4°C).
- Shifts in population composition are a crucial, underappreciated mechanism in climate change ecology.
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