The fear diet: Risk, refuge, and biological control by omnivorous weed seed predators
Weed seed biocontrol by omnivorous mice and insects can limit weed seedbanks, but this ecosystem service can be difficult to predict given the broad diet breadth of seed predators and their potential for intraguild predation. Seed foraging behavior is further modified by fluctuating cues of predatio...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2022-12-01
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| Series: | Basic and Applied Ecology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1439179122000792 |
| _version_ | 1797755063131701248 |
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| author | Ivy V. Widick Jacob L. Berl Ian Kaplan Patrick A. Zollner Carmen K. Blubaugh |
| author_facet | Ivy V. Widick Jacob L. Berl Ian Kaplan Patrick A. Zollner Carmen K. Blubaugh |
| author_sort | Ivy V. Widick |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Weed seed biocontrol by omnivorous mice and insects can limit weed seedbanks, but this ecosystem service can be difficult to predict given the broad diet breadth of seed predators and their potential for intraguild predation. Seed foraging behavior is further modified by fluctuating cues of predation risk from higher trophic levels and the availability of refuge habitat. Uncertainty about whether co-occurring insects and mice additively contribute to weed biocontrol or interfere with each other via intraguild predation limits our ability to recommend habitat management strategies that reliably promote seed destruction. Using seed removal assays, fluorescent powder tracking, and stable isotope analyses, we assessed effects of a predation risk cue (moonlight) on mouse foraging patterns in a patchwork of vegetated and exposed plots in a cultivated field. Mouse foraging activity decreased on exposed ground during the full moon, compared to dark nights, yet foraging movements were unaffected by moon cycle within refuge patches. Weed seed consumption was more than three times higher in cover than exposed soil, and 78% of that difference was attributable to invertebrate granivores. Mice and invertebrate granivores both exhibited higher foraging activity in cover, indicating co-occurrence of intraguild predators and prey. However, stable isotope analyses of fecal samples revealed that mice captured in refuge habitats fed at slightly lower trophic levels than those in exposed habitats (suggesting minimal intraguild predation in refuge habitat), and mouse diet was unaffected by moonlight. Despite increased availability of invertebrate prey in cover patches, mice do not appear to preferentially exploit prey when avoiding their own predators or interfere with weed seed predation. Therefore, functional redundancy of mice and invertebrate seed predators in cover crops and other refuge habitats may strengthen and stabilize weed seed biocontrol. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T17:41:26Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-2ba2d339d3fc49669eba6b598a2400eb |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1439-1791 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T17:41:26Z |
| publishDate | 2022-12-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Basic and Applied Ecology |
| spelling | doaj.art-2ba2d339d3fc49669eba6b598a2400eb2023-08-04T05:46:38ZengElsevierBasic and Applied Ecology1439-17912022-12-01655061The fear diet: Risk, refuge, and biological control by omnivorous weed seed predatorsIvy V. Widick0Jacob L. Berl1Ian Kaplan2Patrick A. Zollner3Carmen K. Blubaugh4Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology, University of Wisconsin, 1630 Linden Dr., Madison, WI 53706, United StatesDepartment of Forestry and Natural Resources, Purdue University, 715 W. State St., West Lafayette, IN 47907, United StatesDepartment of Entomology, Purdue University, 901 W. State St., West Lafayette, IN 47907, United StatesDepartment of Forestry and Natural Resources, Purdue University, 715 W. State St., West Lafayette, IN 47907, United StatesDepartment of Entomology, University of Georgia, 120 Cedar St., Athens, GA 30602, United States; Corresponding author.Weed seed biocontrol by omnivorous mice and insects can limit weed seedbanks, but this ecosystem service can be difficult to predict given the broad diet breadth of seed predators and their potential for intraguild predation. Seed foraging behavior is further modified by fluctuating cues of predation risk from higher trophic levels and the availability of refuge habitat. Uncertainty about whether co-occurring insects and mice additively contribute to weed biocontrol or interfere with each other via intraguild predation limits our ability to recommend habitat management strategies that reliably promote seed destruction. Using seed removal assays, fluorescent powder tracking, and stable isotope analyses, we assessed effects of a predation risk cue (moonlight) on mouse foraging patterns in a patchwork of vegetated and exposed plots in a cultivated field. Mouse foraging activity decreased on exposed ground during the full moon, compared to dark nights, yet foraging movements were unaffected by moon cycle within refuge patches. Weed seed consumption was more than three times higher in cover than exposed soil, and 78% of that difference was attributable to invertebrate granivores. Mice and invertebrate granivores both exhibited higher foraging activity in cover, indicating co-occurrence of intraguild predators and prey. However, stable isotope analyses of fecal samples revealed that mice captured in refuge habitats fed at slightly lower trophic levels than those in exposed habitats (suggesting minimal intraguild predation in refuge habitat), and mouse diet was unaffected by moonlight. Despite increased availability of invertebrate prey in cover patches, mice do not appear to preferentially exploit prey when avoiding their own predators or interfere with weed seed predation. Therefore, functional redundancy of mice and invertebrate seed predators in cover crops and other refuge habitats may strengthen and stabilize weed seed biocontrol.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1439179122000792Biological controlCover cropsIntraguild predationOmnivoryPeromyscus maniculatusPredation risk |
| spellingShingle | Ivy V. Widick Jacob L. Berl Ian Kaplan Patrick A. Zollner Carmen K. Blubaugh The fear diet: Risk, refuge, and biological control by omnivorous weed seed predators Basic and Applied Ecology Biological control Cover crops Intraguild predation Omnivory Peromyscus maniculatus Predation risk |
| title | The fear diet: Risk, refuge, and biological control by omnivorous weed seed predators |
| title_full | The fear diet: Risk, refuge, and biological control by omnivorous weed seed predators |
| title_fullStr | The fear diet: Risk, refuge, and biological control by omnivorous weed seed predators |
| title_full_unstemmed | The fear diet: Risk, refuge, and biological control by omnivorous weed seed predators |
| title_short | The fear diet: Risk, refuge, and biological control by omnivorous weed seed predators |
| title_sort | fear diet risk refuge and biological control by omnivorous weed seed predators |
| topic | Biological control Cover crops Intraguild predation Omnivory Peromyscus maniculatus Predation risk |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1439179122000792 |
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