Thakur Madhav Prakash, Eisenhauer Nico
1] German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Deutscher Platz 5e, 04103 Leipzig, Germany [2] Institute of Biology, University of Leipzig, Johannisallee 21, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
Sci Rep. 2015 Mar 16;5:9134. doi: 10.1038/srep09134.
Top-down control of prey by predators are magnified in productive ecosystems due to higher sustenance of prey communities. In soil micro-arthropod food webs, plant communities regulate the availability of basal resources like soil microbial biomass. Mixed plant communities are often associated with higher microbial biomass than monocultures. Therefore, top-down control is expected to be higher in soil food webs of mixed plant communities. Moreover, higher predator densities can increase the suppression of prey, which can induce interactive effects between predator densities and plant community composition on prey populations. Here, we tested the effects of predator density (predatory mites) on prey populations (Collembola) in monoculture and mixed plant communities. We hypothesized that top-down control would increase with predator density but only in the mixed plant community. Our results revealed two contrasting patterns of top-down control: stronger top-down control of prey communities in the mixed plant community, but weaker top-down control in plant monocultures in high predator density treatments. As expected, higher microbial community biomass in the mixed plant community sustained sufficiently high prey populations to support high predator density. Our results highlight the roles of plant community composition and predator densities in regulating top-down control of prey in soil food webs.
由于猎物群落的更高维持量,捕食者对猎物的自上而下控制在生产力较高的生态系统中会被放大。在土壤微型节肢动物食物网中,植物群落调节着诸如土壤微生物生物量等基础资源的可利用性。混合植物群落通常比单一栽培植物群落具有更高的微生物生物量。因此,预计在混合植物群落的土壤食物网中自上而下控制会更强。此外,更高的捕食者密度会增加对猎物的抑制作用,这会在捕食者密度和植物群落组成对猎物种群的影响之间产生交互作用。在此,我们测试了捕食者密度(捕食螨)对单一栽培植物群落和混合植物群落中猎物种群(弹尾虫)的影响。我们假设自上而下控制会随着捕食者密度的增加而增强,但仅在混合植物群落中如此。我们的结果揭示了两种截然不同的自上而下控制模式:在混合植物群落中对猎物群落的自上而下控制更强,但在高捕食者密度处理下的单一栽培植物群落中自上而下控制较弱。正如预期的那样,混合植物群落中更高的微生物群落生物量维持了足够高的猎物种群数量以支持高捕食者密度。我们的结果突出了植物群落组成和捕食者密度在调节土壤食物网中猎物的自上而下控制方面的作用。