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Predators indirectly reduce the prevalence of an insect-vectored plant pathogen independent of predator diversity

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Abstract

A widely cited benefit of predator diversity is greater suppression of insect herbivores, with corresponding increases in plant biomass. In the context of a vector-borne pathogen system, predator species richness may also influence plant disease risk via the direct effects of predators on the abundance and behavior of herbivores that also act as pathogen vectors. Using an assemblage of generalist insect predators, we examined the relationship between predator species richness and the prevalence of the aphid-vectored cereal yellow dwarf virus in wheat. We found that increasing predator richness enhanced suppression of the vector population and that pathogen prevalence was reduced when predators were present, but the reduction in prevalence was independent of predator species richness. To determine the mechanism(s) by which predator species richness contributes to vector suppression, but not pathogen prevalence, we evaluated vector movement and host plant occupancy in response to predator treatments. We found that pathogen prevalence was unrelated to vector suppression because host plant occupancy by vectors did not vary as a function of vector abundance. However, the presence of predators reduced pathogen prevalence because predators stimulated greater plant-to-plant movement by vectors, which likely diminished vector feeding time and reduced the transmission efficiency of this persistent pathogen. We conclude that community structure (i.e., the presence of predators), but not predator diversity, is a potential factor influencing local plant infection by this insect-vectored pathogen.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Candace Galen, Richard Houseman, and James Schoelz for comments on the manuscript, Joseph Anderson for providing CYDV-RPV inoculum, Charles Mitchell and Marty Dekkers for sharing acquisition/inoculation protocols, Carlos Angel for laboratory training, and Lauren Diepenbrock for greenhouse assistance. We also thank Jennifer Thaler and two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments on the manuscript. This project was supported by the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative of the US Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture grant no. 2009-02083 and the University of Missouri Research Board (D. L. F.), and a University of Missouri Life Sciences Fellowship awarded to E. Y. L. Both E. Y. L. and D. L. F. declare that they have no conflict of interest, and all experiments were conducted in accordance with current laws in the USA.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Plant Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, 65211, USA

    Elizabeth Y. Long & Deborah L. Finke

  2. Department of Entomology, Purdue University, 901 W. State Street, West Lafayette, IN, 47907, USA

    Elizabeth Y. Long

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  1. Elizabeth Y. Long
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  2. Deborah L. Finke
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Correspondence to Elizabeth Y. Long.

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Communicated by Jennifer Thaler.

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Long, E.Y., Finke, D.L. Predators indirectly reduce the prevalence of an insect-vectored plant pathogen independent of predator diversity. Oecologia 177, 1067–1074 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-014-3194-1

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