Cool Headed Individuals Are Better Survivors: Non-Consumptive and Consumptive Effects of a Generalist Predator on a Sap Feeding Insect

PLoS One. 2015 Aug 21;10(8):e0135954. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0135954. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

Non-consumptive effects (NCEs) of predators are part of the complex interactions among insect natural enemies and prey. NCEs have been shown to significantly affect prey foraging and feeding. Leafhopper's (Auchenorrhyncha) lengthy phloem feeding bouts may play a role in pathogen transmission in vector species and also exposes them to predation risk. However, NCEs on leafhoppers have been scarcely studied, and we lack basic information about how anti-predator behaviour influences foraging and feeding in these species. Here we report a study on non-consumptive and consumptive predator-prey interactions in a naturally co-occurring spider-leafhopper system. In mesocosm arenas we studied movement patterns during foraging and feeding of the leafhopper Psammotettix alienus in the presence of the spider predator Tibellus oblongus. Leafhoppers delayed feeding and fed much less often when the spider was present. Foraging movement pattern changed under predation risk: movements became more frequent and brief. There was considerable individual variation in foraging movement activity. Those individuals that increased movement activity in the presence of predators exposed themselves to higher predation risk. However, surviving individuals exhibited a 'cool headed' reaction to spider presence by moving less than leafhoppers in control trials. No leafhoppers were preyed upon while feeding. We consider delayed feeding as a "paradoxical" antipredator tactic, since it is not necessarily an optimal strategy against a sit-and-wait generalist predator.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Biomechanical Phenomena
  • Feeding Behavior / physiology
  • Feeding Behavior / psychology*
  • Female
  • Food Chain
  • Hemiptera / physiology*
  • Hordeum / growth & development
  • Longevity / physiology
  • Male
  • Movement
  • Predatory Behavior / physiology*
  • Spiders / physiology*
  • Time Factors

Grants and funding

Funding for the study was provided by British Ecological Society Research grant (http://www.britishecologicalsociety.org) 4768/5806 to FS and Országos Tudományos Kutatási Alapprogramok (K81971; www.otka.hu/en/) to FS. During the study, ZT was supported by the ‘Lendület’ programme of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA, LP2012-24/2012; www.mta.hu), Országos Tudományos Kutatási Alapprogramok grant (PD108938; www.otka.hu/en/) and the postdoctoral research programme of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (SZ-029/2013; www.mta.hu). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.