3 results
1 - Food for protection: an introduction
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- By Felix L. Wäckers, Centre for Terrestrial Ecology Netherlands Institute of Ecology The Netherlands, Paul C. J. van Rijn, Netherlands Institute of Ecology The Netherlands
- Edited by F. L. Wäckers, Netherlands Institute of Ecology, P. C. J. van Rijn, Netherlands Institute of Ecology, J. Bruin, Universiteit van Amsterdam
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- Book:
- Plant-Provided Food for Carnivorous Insects
- Published online:
- 15 December 2009
- Print publication:
- 10 June 2005, pp 1-14
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Summary
It has long been recognized that plants provide floral nectar and pollen to attract pollinators. In addition, plants also provide specific foods as part of a protection strategy. By producing extrafloral nectar or food bodies, plants attract predators that can act as bodyguards, clearing the plant of its antagonists. A wide range of arthropods with a primarily carnivorous lifestyle require plant-provided food as an indispensable part of their diet (Table 1.1). In some arthropod groups, the adult stages depend on nectar or pollen for survival and reproduction, whereas in other groups all stages feed on plant-provided food in addition to prey. Only recently have we started to appreciate the implications of non-prey food for plant-herbivore-carnivore interactions. Insight into these food-mediated interactions not only helps in understanding the functioning of multitrophic interactions in natural ecosystems, it also has direct implications for the use of food supplements in biological control programs. In this introductory chapter we first sketch a historical perspective on the topic of plant-provided foods. Subsequently, we present an outline of the book and briefly introduce the different chapters.
The scientific discovery of plant-provided foods
Humans have always shared the sweet tooth of many arthropods. However, for long we lacked the ability to obtain sugars directly from plants, and thus were entirely dependent on insects as intermediaries. Therefore, it is not surprising that nectar and honeydew in connection with insects attracted the attention of naturalists early on.
8 - Impact of plant-provided food on herbivore–carnivore dynamics
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- By Paul C. J. Van Rijn, Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) Department for Multitrophic Interactions (MTI) The Netherlands, Maurice W. Sabelis, Section Population Biology Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics University of Amsterdam The Netherlands
- Edited by F. L. Wäckers, Netherlands Institute of Ecology, P. C. J. van Rijn, Netherlands Institute of Ecology, J. Bruin, Universiteit van Amsterdam
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- Book:
- Plant-Provided Food for Carnivorous Insects
- Published online:
- 15 December 2009
- Print publication:
- 10 June 2005, pp 223-266
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Summary
Introduction
Arthropod predators and parasitoids play an important role in reducing herbivore damage to plants. Although most of these arthropods are mainly carnivorous, they also use plant-provided food (PPF) as a source of nutrients during at least part of their life cycle. These foods affect longevity, fecundity, and the distribution of carnivores (Olson et al., Chapter 5 and Eubanks and Styrsky, Chapter 6), and thus also the population dynamics of herbivore–carnivore systems.
Despite the importance of this type of omnivory for herbivore–carnivore interactions in general and biological control in particular, its population-dynamical consequences are not fully understood. Relatively few population studies have addressed the topic (Bakker and Klein 1992; Alomar and Wiedemann 1996; Stapel et al. 1997; Eubanks and Denno 2000; Van Rijn et al. 2002; Wäckers 2003), and even fewer theoretical studies (Krivan and Sirot 1997; Van Baalen et al. 2001; Van Rijn et al. 2002; Kean et al. 2003). Omnivory in general, however, has gained much attention since Polis' seminal papers (Polis et al. 1989; Polis and Holt 1992), both among empirical (Diehl 1995; Holyoak and Sachdev 1998; Pringle and Hamazaki 1998; Gillespie and McGregor 2000; Coll and Guershon 2002) and theoretical ecologists (Pimm and Lawton 1978; Holt and Polis 1997; McCann and Hastings 1997; Polis 1998; Mylius et al. 2001). These studies have mainly focussed on the consequences of omnivory for population persistence and community stability, and much less on the consequences for herbivory.
4 - Fitness consequences of food-for-protection strategies in plants
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- By Maurice W. Sabelis, University of Amsterdam The Netherlands, Paul C. J. van Rijn, Netherlands Institute of Ecology The Netherlands, Arne Janssen, University of Amsterdam The Netherlands
- Edited by F. L. Wäckers, Netherlands Institute of Ecology, P. C. J. van Rijn, Netherlands Institute of Ecology, J. Bruin, Universiteit van Amsterdam
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- Book:
- Plant-Provided Food for Carnivorous Insects
- Published online:
- 15 December 2009
- Print publication:
- 10 June 2005, pp 109-134
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Summary
Behind the idle and quiet appearance of plants, warfare is an everyday issue. Herbivorous arthropods, below- and aboveground, continue to threaten a plant's existence, whereas their attack is countered by the plant in many ways. Plants defend themselves directly by modifying plant structure (e.g., cuticle thickness, leaf hairiness), lowering nutritional quality, decreasing digestibility and increasing toxicity, but also indirectly by promoting the effectiveness of enemies of the herbivores (Price et al. 1980). This indirect plant defense implies that plants provide chemical lures, shelter and/or food, whereas they gain protection in exchange (Sabelis et al. 1999a, b, c, d, 2002). Central American Acacia trees stand out as a landmark example (Janzen 1966). They have stipular thorns that are expanded and hollow and provide nesting sites for certain ants. In addition, they secrete nectar from large foliar nectaries and produce nutritive organs called Beltian bodies on the leaf pinnules. These food bodies are eagerly harvested by foraging ants and fed to their larvae. The ants in turn kill insect herbivores, repel mammalian herbivores, and destroy plants interfering with the Acacia tree. In this chapter, we focus on food provisioning as a strategy of the plant to boost the third trophic level and we discuss the conditions under which this particular mode of defense is favored by natural selection.
The argument that plants benefit from consumers of the foods they provide dates back to Thomas Belt in his book published in 1874.