Journal
OIKOS
Volume 117, Issue 9, Pages 1380-1385Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/j.0030-1299.2008.16629.x
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Organisms often perceive risk to be attacked by natural enemies through cues that accompany or persist after attacks on conspecifics. Under the risk of attack, preys may prioritize anti-enemy behaviours, sacrificing their feeding activities. These enemy-induced changes can affect the prey population growth. The presence of killed congeners is a past attack events cue but, in terrestrial prey-enemy systems, its effect on prey population biology is an open question. This was addressed here by studying both the space use and reproductive effort of aphids exposed to congeners killed by parasitoids. To test whether preys adjust their responses with the threat intensity, aphids' responses in presence of killed conspecifics were compared to those measured when directly exposed to non-consumptive parasitoids. The results showed that killed congeners are perceived by aphids and led to both changes in their space use and a strong decline in their population size. This experiment is the first to demonstrate that the presence of congeners killed by an enemy can contribute to the suppressive effects of natural enemies on prey populations.
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