Carpinteria Salt Marsh Reserve

25 May, 02 AM - 25 May, 10 AM

We investigate how biotic and abiotic environmental variation influence species coexistence in a host ? multiparasitoid community inhabiting the coastal sage scrub in Santa Barbara Co., CA, USA. The host species, the bordered plant bug [Largus californicus] is attacked by three parasitoids (an egg parasitoid [Gryon largi]) as well as a parasitoid wasp [unidentified sp.] and a tachinid fly [Trichopoda pennipes] that attack nymphal and adult life-stages). This research is motivated by a striking pattern observed in the host?s population dynamics. In many Hemipteran insects, adults exhibit more stable dynamics than eggs and nymphs because of invulnerability to attack by natural enemies and because fluctuations due to seasonal temperature variation are attenuated due to stage-structure. The bordered plant bug provides an exception to this pattern: adults are vulnerable to attack by natural enemies and exhibit high variability in abundance. We hypothesize that it is the interplay between the bug?s sensitivity to temperature-variation and attack by enemies at multiple life-stages that drives its population dynamics. We test these mechanisms using a combination of mathematical models, field censuses, and laboratory experiments in temperature-controlled incubators and using an automated video system.

Visit #28713 @Carpinteria Salt Marsh Reserve

Approved

Under Project # 25382 | Research

Species coexistence in a host-multiparasitoid community: the bordered plant bug (Largus californicus) and its parasitoids

graduate_student - University of California, Los Angeles

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Christopher Johnson May 25, 2012 (1 days)

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