Parasitism rate, parasitoid community composition and host specificity on exposed and semi-concealed caterpillars from a tropical rainforest

0397096 - BC 2014 RIV DE eng J - Journal Article
Hrček, Jan - Miller, S. E. - Whitfield, J. B. - Shimada, H. - Novotný, Vojtěch
Parasitism rate, parasitoid community composition and host specificity on exposed and semi-concealed caterpillars from a tropical rainforest.
Oecologia. Roč. 173, č. 2 (2013), s. 521-532. ISSN 0029-8549. E-ISSN 1432-1939
R&D Projects: GA ČR GA206/09/0115; GA AV ČR IAA600960712; GA MŠMT(CZ) LH11008; GA ČR GA13-10486S
Grant - others:European Social Fund(CZ) CZ.1.07/2.3.00/20.0064; US National Science Foundation(US) DEB 0841885
Institutional support: RVO:60077344
Keywords : Lepidoptera * specialization * community structure
Subject RIV: EH - Ecology, Behaviour
Impact factor: 3.248, year: 2013
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00442-013-2619-6

The processes maintaining the enormous diversity of herbivore—parasitoid food webs depend on parasitism rate and parasitoid host specificity. We document parasitism rate and host specificity in a highly diverse caterpillar-parasitoid food web encompassing 266 species of lepidopteran hosts and 172 species of hymenopteran or dipteran parasitoids from a lowland tropical forest in Papua New Guinea. We found that semi-concealed hosts (leaf rollers and leaf tiers) represented 84 % of all caterpillars, suffered a higher parasitism rate than exposed caterpillars (12 vs. 5 %) and their parasitoids were also more host specific. Parasitoid host specificity was highest in Braconidae, lower in Diptera: Tachinidae, and, unexpectedly, the lowest in Ichneumonidae. Semi-concealed hosts and their parasitoids are the largest, yet understudied component of caterpillar—parasitoid food webs.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0225659