2019 journal article
Arthropod carrion influences plant choice, oviposition, and cannibalism by a specialist predator on a sticky plant
ECOLOGICAL ENTOMOLOGY, 45(2), 182–189.
author keywords: Arthropod-plant interactions; necrophagy; phylloplane resource; plant-provided food; scavenging; trichomes
TL;DR:
Specialist predatory arthropods able to manoeuvre on plants covered in trichomes facultatively scavenge on the alternative food resource, increasing their abundance and reducing plant damage by herbivores.
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2. Zero Hunger
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13. Climate Action
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15. Life on Land
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Source: Web Of Science
Added: August 19, 2019
1. Dead arthropods, entrapped by trichomes on plant surfaces, are an underappreciated form of plant‐provided food. Specialist predatory arthropods able to manoeuvre on plants covered in trichomes facultatively scavenge on the alternative food resource, increasing their abundance and reducing plant damage by herbivores.2. This protective mutualism dependent on arthropod carrion has been demonstrated in several plant species, but the mechanisms driving the increase in predator abundance have not been identified. Through a series of greenhouse and laboratory experiments, the effect of arthropod carrion on predator behaviour was assessed.3. The predatorJalysus wickhamipreferredNicotiana tabacumplants augmented with arthropod carrion, spending significantly more time and laying more eggs on those plants than plants without arthropod carrion.4. Under lowJ. wickhamidensities, arthropod carrion did not reduce egg cannibalism by adults. Under high densities, egg cannibalism byJ. wickhamiadults was reduced in the presence of arthropod carrion, but cannibalism by fifth instars was not.5. Arthropod carrion may be utilised by a wide range of predatory arthropods that facultatively scavenge, and this research demonstrates its potential for influencing arthropod–plant and arthropod–arthropod interactions.