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Ecological communities are partly structured by indirect interactions, where one species can indirectly affect another by altering its interactions with a third species. In the absence of direct predation, nonconsumptive effects of predators on prey have important implications for subsequent community interactions. To better understand these interactions, we used a -parasite-predator cue system to evaluate if predation risk affects responses to a parasite. We investigated the effects of predator cues on two aspects of host-parasite interactions (susceptibility to infection and infection intensity), and whether or not these effects differed between sexes. Our results show that changes in response to predator cues caused an increase in the prevalence and intensity of parasite infections in female predator-exposed . Importantly, the magnitude of infection risk depended on how long were exposed to the cues. Additionally, heavily infected that were constantly exposed to cues produced relatively more offspring. While males were ~5× less likely to become infected compared to females, we were unable to detect effects of predator cues on male -parasite interactions. In sum, predators, prey, and their parasites can form complex subnetworks in food webs, necessitating a nuanced understanding of how nonconsumptive effects may mediate these interactions.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.6401 | DOI Listing |
Insects
July 2025
College of Horticulture and Plant Protection, Henan Provincial Engineering Technology Research Center of Green Plant Protection, Henan University of Science and Technology, Luoyang 471000, China.
In the scenario that requires the biological control of pests using predatory enemies, predators not only prey on pests directly but also can affect the population fitness of pests through indirect non-consumptive effects (predation risk effects). However, the impact of predation risk effects varies depending on the mode of stress imposed by natural enemies and the state of the stressed pests. Herein, we exposed aphids () at different stages to various cues from the multicolored Asian lady beetle () to assess the effects of different predation risks on development and reproduction.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnviron Entomol
July 2025
Department of Entomology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA.
Interactions between parasitoids and herbivore hosts are complex as parasitism affects multiple components of host behavior and fitness through both consumptive and non-consumptive effects. Understanding how these multiple effects unfold is especially important in applied systems where parasitoids play a role in biological control. In lab-based experiments, we manipulated parasitism in striped cucumber beetles, Acalymma vittatum (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), a major pest of cucurbits in North America, using Celatoria setosa (Diptera: Tachinidae) to assess how parasitism affected multiple components of male and female fitness, including survival, herbivory, oviposition, and reproductive signaling through the emission of vittatalactone, a male-specific aggregation pheromone.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProc Biol Sci
July 2025
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA.
Predator loss can cause shifts in ecosystem state, especially when accompanied by changes in the behaviour of its prey. The recent decline of predatory sunflower sea stars and a coincident a decline of kelp forests across the northeastern Pacific raises questions about their role in kelp forest ecosystem maintenance and recovery. While may support kelp forests by consuming herbivorous sea urchins, less is known about their non-consumptive effects, especially in degraded habitats.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAbstractPrenatal environmental cues can affect embryonic development to produce suitable phenotypes to match the expected conditions after birth. In gulls, parental alarm calls during incubation affect postnatal antipredator behavior, but how chicks integrate reliable prenatal and postnatal information and how this influences their development and viability remain unclear. In this study, we performed a match-mismatch experiment in which we manipulated acoustic cues of predator presence during embryonic development (adult alarm calls vs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFToxins (Basel)
June 2025
Department of Marine Sciences, University of Connecticut, 1080 Shennecossett Road, Groton, CT 06340, USA.
The non-consumptive effects of past predator exposure on phytoplankton have gained recognition, but how these effects are modulated by resource availability requires further study. We examined the simultaneous effects of past predator exposure (direct, indirect, and no exposure) and nutrient regime (combinations of N- and P-repletion and limitation) on the paralytic shellfish toxin retention and cell growth rate of a toxic dinoflagellate, (strain BF-5), under a laboratory-simulated bloom condition (exponential, stationary, and declining phases). Within a past predator exposure treatment, cell toxin retention was generally higher under N-replete than N-limited conditions.
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