Density regulation of co-occurring herbivores via two indirect effects mediated by biomass and non-specific induced plant defenses

Two herbivorous species that share a single plant can interact indirectly with one another, even without direct interaction. One type of indirect interaction is exploitative resource competition, which results from a reduction in plant biomass; another type is that caused by changes in plant traits. These are referred to as indirect effects, mediated, respectively, by biomass and plant traits. The two indirect effect types often occur simultaneously, and they are difficult to partition. To investigate the roles of the two indirect effects on both herbivores, a dynamic one-plant, two-herbivore system model was analyzed assuming the spatiotemporal co-occurrence of the herbivores and the plants' non-specific induced defenses. Our analysis revealed that the densities of coexisting competitively superior and subordinate herbivores were regulated by negative indirect effects mediated by plant biomass and defense, respectively. This indicates that indirect effects mediated by plant biomass and plant traits can be important regulators of herbivore population size in equilibrium with herbivore coexistence. Our results could be generally applicable to plant-herbivore interactions with non-specific plant defense that is induced through both intra- and transgenerational responses.

Automated summary

Two herbivorous species sharing a plant can indirectly interact through exploitative resource competition and changes in plant traits, mediated respectively by plant biomass and defense. These indirect effects can regulate the densities of coexisting herbivores, indicating their importance in herbivore population size regulation and coexistence equilibrium.