Non-trophic interactions, driven by one species changing the behavior but not density of another species, appear to be as pervasive as those involving consumption. However, ecologists have only begun to explore non-trophic interactions in species-rich communities. We investigated interactions within a community including two predator-prey linkages separated in space: ground-active predatory beetles and their fly egg prey on the ground, and lady beetles and their aphid prey in plant foliage. In field and greenhouse experiments we found that ground-active predators preyed heavily on fly eggs except when both aphids and lady beetles were present. The aphids drop from the foliage to escape foraging lady beetles, and once on the ground apparently triggered ground-active predators to switch from attacking fly eggs to attacking aphids. This suggests that the first non-trophic interaction in the foliage, mediated by aphid antipredator behavior, in turn initiated and accentuated a second non-trophic interaction on the ground, mediated by prey-switching behavior by ground predators. Our results demonstrate that successive non-trophic interactions can be propagated along chains of more than three species, and can serve to link species that are otherwise spatially isolated.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 5. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 09 November 2009.
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#7,605,073
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#36,144
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#5
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Altmetric has tracked 28,841,988 research outputs across all sources so far. This one has received more attention than most of these and is in the 72nd percentile.
So far Altmetric has tracked 4,977 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 6.8. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 70% of its peers.
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We're also able to compare this research output to 17 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 58% of its contemporaries.
