How to evaluate the potential occurrence of intraguild predation

Morgana Maria Fonseca,Inmaculada Torres-Campos,Arne Janssen,Marta Montserrat,Celeste Guzmán,Angelo Pallini

doi:10.1007/s10493-017-0142-x

Abstract

Intraguild predation is the combination of exploitative competition and predation among potential competitors that use similar resources. It has the potential to shape population dynamics and community structure. Although there is much empirical evidence for the occurrence of intraguild predation in natural ecosystems, the study of its effects is mainly limited to short-term microcosm experiments. There is, therefore, certain skepticism about its actual significance in nature. A relevant concern is that there is no consensus regarding criteria to evaluate the possible occurrence of intraguild predation in short-term experiments, and methodological differences may therefore underlie apparent inconsistencies among studies. Our purpose here was to evaluate existing criteria to offer guidance for the design of experiments to determine whether two species may potentially engage in intraguild predation. The criteria are based on the condition that intraguild predators need to experience immediate energetic gains when feeding on the intraguild prey. Thus, a relevant experimental design must quantify predation but also fitness benefits of feeding on the other species, i.e. increases in reproduction, somatic growth, or survival.

Highlights

IntroductionIntraguild predation (IGP) consists of the combination of exploitative competition and predation among potential competitors that use similar resources (Polis et al 1989)
Intraguild predation is the combination of exploitative competition and predation among potential competitors that use similar resources
Despite the ubiquity and importance of Intraguild predation (IGP), empirical evidence for its effects is mainly limited to microcosm experiments, and there exists, certain skepticism about its actual occurrence and significance in nature (Kindlmann and Houdkova 2006; Gagnon et al 2011)

Summary

Introduction

Intraguild predation (IGP) consists of the combination of exploitative competition and predation among potential competitors that use similar resources (Polis et al 1989). If the two competitors feed on each other, they are engaged in a more complex type of IGP termed reciprocal intraguild predation (Fig. 1b), which is frequently observed in systems of true predators (Polis et al 1989; Wissinger 1992; Woodward and Hildrew 2002; Montserrat et al 2012) When such mutual predation is included in the basic model of IGP, the possibilities for coexistence of the three species are dramatically reduced compared to simple IGP (Table 1, HilleRisLambers and Dieckmann 2003; Montserrat et al 2012; Schellekens and van Kooten 2012). The competitor that arrives first can build up a population and exclude the other competitor through intraguild predation, the order of invasion is a decisive factor in systems with reciprocal IGP (HilleRisLambers and Dieckmann 2003; Montserrat et al 2008; van der Hammen et al 2010; Montserrat et al 2012)

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