Trophic trickles rather than cascades: Conditional top-down and bottom-up dynamics in an Australian chenopod shrubland

Austral Ecology

Volumn 27, Issue 5, 2002, Pages 490-508

  Dawes Gromadzki, Tracy Z ^a,b  

^a FLINDERS UNIVERSITY   (Australia)

^b CSIRO   (Australia)

Author keywords

Abiotic heterogeneity; Arthropods; Community structure; Field experiment; Intraguild interactions; Nutrient addition; Predator removal; Terrestrial systems; Trophic cascades

Indexed keywords

ARTHROPOD; BOTTOM-UP CONTROL; COMMUNITY STRUCTURE; FOOD WEB; SHRUBLAND; TOP-DOWN CONTROL; TROPHIC CASCADE;

AUSTRALASIA; AUSTRALIA; EASTERN HEMISPHERE; WORLD;

ARANEAE; ARTHROPODA; CANIS; FORMICIDAE; LYCOSIDAE;

EID: 0842327218     PISSN: 14429985     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1046/j.1442-9993.2002.01210.x     Document Type: Article

References (90)

1. Alonso I. & Hartley S. E. (1998) Effects of nutrient supply, light availability and herbivory on the growth of heather and three competing grass species. Plant Ecol. 137, 203-12.
2. Andersen A. N. (1991) The Ants of Southern Australia: A Guide to the Bassian Fauna. CSIRO Publications, Melbourne, Australia.
3. Andersen A. N. (1995) A classification of Australian ant communities, based on functional groups which parallel plant life forms in relation to stress and disturbance. J. Biogeogr. 22, 15-29.
4. Andersen A. N & Patel A. D. (1994) Meat ants as dominant members of Australian ant communities: An experimental test of their influence on the foraging success and forager abundance of other species. Oecologia 98, 15-24.
5. Andrewartha H. G. & Birch L. C. (1954) The Distribution and Abundance of Animals. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL, USA.
6. Atlegrim O. (1989) Exclusion of birds from bilberry stands: Impact on insect larval density and damage to the bilberry. Oecologia 79, 136-9.
7. Black J. M. (1986) Flora of South Australia, 4th edn. South Australian Government Printing Division, Adelaide, Australia.
8. Bock C. E., Bock J. H., Kenny W. R & Hawthorne V. M. (1984) Responses of birds, rodents, and vegetation to livestock enclosure in a semi-desert grassland site. J. Range. Manage. 37, 239-42.
9. Brown J. H. & Heske E. J. (1990) Control of a desert-grassland transition by a keystone rodent guild. Science 205, 1705-7.
10. Carter P. E. & Rypstra A. L. (1995) Top-down effects in soybean agroecosystems: Spider density affects herbivore damage. Oikos 65, 433-9.
11. Cepeda-Pizarro J. G., Gutierrez J. R., Valderrama L. & Vasquez H. (1996) Phenology of the edaphic microarthropods in a Chilean coastal desert site and their response to water and nutrient amendments to the soil. Pedobiologia 40, 352-63.
12. Chapin F. S. III, Schulze E. D. & Mooney H. A. (1990) The ecology and economics of storage in plants. Annu. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 21, 423-47.
13. Clark M. S., Luna J. M., Stone D. & Youngman R R. (1994) Generalist predator consumption of armyworm (Larvae: Noctuidae) and effect of predator removal on damage in no till corn. Environ. Entomol. 23, 617-22.
14. Davidson D. W. & Morton S. R. (1981) Mymrcochory in some plants (F. chenopodiaceae) of the Australian arid zone. Oecologia 50, 357-66.
15. Dawes-Gromadzki T. Z. (1999) Preliminary analyses of the responses of a semi-arid arthropod community to predator and nutrient manipulations. In: The Other 99%. The Conservation and Biodiversity of Invertebrates (eds D. Lunney & W. Ponder) pp. 60-7. Surrey Beatty & Sons, Sydney, NSW.
16. Dawes-Gromadzki T. Z. & Bull. C. M. (1997a) Laboratory studies of ant predation on parapatric reptile ticks. Aust. J. Ecol. 22, 1-7.
17. Dawes-Gromadzki T. Z. & Bull, C. M. (1997b) Ant predation on different life stages of two Australian ticks. Exp. Appl. Acarol 21, 1-7.
18. Drake V. A. (1994) The influence of weather and climate on agriculturally important insects: An Australian perspective. Aust. J. Agric. Res. 45, 487-509.
19. Ehmann H. (1992) Encyclopaedia of Australian Animals: Reptiles. Harper Collins Publishers, Pymble, NSW, Australia.
20. Floyd T (1996) Top-down impacts on creosotebush herbivores in a spatially and temporally complex environment. Ecology 77, 1544-55.
21. Fretwell S. D. (1977) The regulation of plant communities by the food chains exploiting them. Perspect. Biol. Med. 20, 169-85.
22. Greenslade P. J. M. (1973) Sampling ants with pitfall traps: Digging-in effects. Insectes Soc. 20, 343-53.
23. Greenslade P. J. M. (1975) Short-term change in a population of the meat ant Iridomyrmex purpureus (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Aust. J. Zool. 23, 511-22.
24. Greenslade P. J. M. & Greenslade P. (1984) Soil surface insects of the Australian arid zone. In: Arid Australia (eds E. E. Cameron & H. G. Cogger) pp. 153-76. Australian Museum, Sydney, Australia.
25. Gutierrez J. R. (1992) Effects of low water supplementation and nutrient addition on the aboveground biomass production of annual plants in a Chilean coastal desert site. Oecologia 90, 556-9.
26. Gutierrez J. R. & Vasquez H. (1996) The effects of water and nutrient addition on annual aboveground biomass production of Chenopodium petiolare H.B.K (Chenopodiaceae) in a north-central Chilean old field. Ecoscience 3, 211-15.
27. Gutierrez J. R. & Whitford W. G. (1987) Chihuahuan desert annuals: Importance of water and nitrogen. Ecology 68, 2032-45.
28. Hairston N. G., Smith F. E. & Slobodkin L. B. (1960) Community structure, population control, and competition. Am. Nat. 94, 421-5.
29. Halaj J., Ross D. W. & Moidenke A R (1997) Negative effects of ant foraging on spiders in Douglas-fir canopies. Oecologia 109, 313-22.
30. Holway D. A. (1998) Effect of Argentine ant invasions on ground-dwelling arthropods in Northern California riparian woodlands. Oecologia 116, 252-8.
31. Honek A. (1994) The effect of plant quality on the abundance of Metropolophium dirhodum (Homoptera: Aphididae) on maize. Eur. J Entomol. 91, 227-36.
32. Horppila J., Peltonen H., Malinen T., Luokkanen E. & Kairesalo T. (1998) Top-down or bottom-up effects by fish: Issues of concern in biomanipulation of lakes. Restor. Ecol. 6, 20-8.
33. Houle G. (1997) Interactions between resources and abiotic conditions control plant performance on subarctic coastal dunes. Am. J. Bot. 84, 1729-37.
34. Human K. G. & Gordon G. M. (1996) Exploitation and interference competition between the invasive ant, Linepithema humile and native ant species. Oecologia 105, 405-12.
35. Hunter M. D. & Price P. W. (1992) Playing chutes and ladders: Heterogeneity and the relative roles of bottom-up and top-down forces in natural communities. Ecology 73, 724-32.
36. Hurd L. E. & Eisenburg R. M. (1984) Experimental density manipulations of the predator Tenodera sinensis (Orthoptera: Mantidae) in an old-field community. II. The influence of mantids on arthropod community structure. J. Anim. Ecol. 53, 955-67.
37. Hurd L. E. & Eisenburg R. M. (1990) Arthropod community responses to manipulation of a bitrophic predator guild. Ecology 71, 2107-14.
38. Jepson-Innes K. & Bock C. E. (1989) Response of grasshoppers (Orthoptera: Acrididae) to livestock grazing in southeastern Arizona: Differences between seasons and subfamilies. Oecologia 78, 430-1.
39. John E. & Turkington R. (1995) Herbaceous vegetation in the understorey of the boreal forest: Does nutrient supply or snowshoe hare herbivory regulate species composition and abundance? J. Ecol 83, 581-90.
40. Kajak A. (1981) Analysis of the effect of mineral fertilisation on the meadow spider community. Ekol. Pol. 29, 313-26.
41. Kelt D. A. & Valone T. J. (1995) Effects of grazing on the abundance and diversity of annual plants in Chihuahuan desert scrub habitat. Oecologia 103, 191-5.
42. Kiehl K., Esselink, P. & Bakker J. P. (1997) Nutrient limitation and plant species composition in temperate salt marshes. Oecologia 111, 325-30.
43. Kuitek R. G., Iampietro P. J. & Bolby C. E. (1998) Sea otters and benthic prey communities: A direct test of the sea otter as keystone predator in Washington State. Mar. Mamm. Sci. 14, 895-902.
44. Landsberg J., Morse J. & Khannu P. (1990) Tree dieback and insect dynamics in remnants of native woodlands on farms. Proc. Ecol. Soc. Aust. 16, 149-65.
45. Larsen K. J., Purrington F. F., Brewer S. R. & Taylor D. H. (1996) Influence of sewage sludge and fertiliser on the ground beetle (Coleoptera: Carabidae) fauna of an old-field community. Environ. Entomol. 25, 452-9.
46. Letourneau D. K. & Dyer L. A. (1998a) Experimental test in lowland tropical forest shows top-down effects through four trophic levels. Ecology 79, 1678-87.
47. Letourneau D. K. & Dyer L. A. (1998b) Density patterns of Piper ant-plants and associated arthropods: Top-predator trophic cascades in a terrestrial system. Biotropica 30, 162-9.
48. Link W. A. & Barker R. J. (1994) Density estimation using the trapping web design: A geometric analysis. Biometrics 50, 733-45.
49. Lipson D. A., Bowman W. D. & Monson R. K. (1996) Luxury uptake and storage of nitrogen in the rhizomatous alpine herb, Bistorta bistortiodes. Ecol. 77, 1277-85.
50. Lobry de Bruyn L. A. & Conacher A. J. (1994) The bioturbation activity of ants in agriculturally and naturally vegetated habitation in semi-arid environments. Aust. J. Soil Res. 32, 555-70.
51. McInnes P. F., Naiman R. J., Pastor J. & and Cohen Y. (1992) Effects of moose browsing on vegetation and liner of the boreal forest, Isle Royale, Michigan, USA. Ecology 73, 2059-75.
52. Marquis R. J. & Whelan C. J (1994) Insectivorous birds increase growth of white oak through consumption of leaf-chewing insects. Ecology 75, 3007-14.
53. Menge B. A. (1992) Community regulation Under what conditions are bottom-up factors important on rocky shores? Ecology 73, 755-65.
54. Mikola J. & Setala H. (1998) No evidence of trophic cascades in an experimental microbial-based food web. Ecology 79, 153-64.
55. Moran M. D. & Hurd L. E. (1998) A trophic cascade in a diverse arthropod community caused by a generalist arthropod predator. Oecologia 113, 126-32.
56. Moran M. D., Rooney T. P. & Hurd L. E. (1996) Top-down cascade from a bitrophic predator in an old-field community. Ecology 77, 2219-27.
57. Mound L. A. & Heming B. S. (1991) Thysanoptera. In: The Insects of Australia (ed. I. D. Naumann) pp. 510-15. Melbourne University Press, Carlton, Vic, Australia.
58. Norusis M. J. & SPSS Inc. (1994) SPSS for Windows Advanced Statistics Release 6.1. SPSS, Chicago, IL, USA.
59. Pacala S. & Roughgarden J. (1984) Control of arthropod abundance by Anolis lizards on St. Eustatius (Neth Antilles). Oecologia 64, 160-2.
60. Polis G. A., Hurd S. D., Jackson C. T. & Sanchez-Pinero F. (1998) Multifactor population limitation: Variable spatial and temporal control of spiders on Gulf of California islands. Ecology 79, 490-502.
61. Polis G. A. & McCormick S. J. (1986) Scorpions, spiders and solpugids: Predation and competition among distantly related taxa. Oecologia 71, 111-16.
62. Polis G. A. & Strong D. R. (1996) Food web complexity and community dynamics. Am. Nat. 147, 813-46.
63. Power M. E. (1992) Top-down and bottom-up forces in food webs: Do plants have primacy? Ecology 73, 733-46.
64. Quinn M. A. & Walgenbach D. D. (1990) Influence of grazing history on the community structure of grasshoppers of a mixed-grass prairie. Entomol. Soc. Am. 19, 1756-66.
65. Rice B. L., Westoby M, Griffin G. F. & Friedel M. H. (1994) Effects of supplementary soil nutrients on hummock grasses. Aust. J. Bot. 42, 687-703.
66. Riechert S. E. & Bishop L. (1990) Prey control by an assemblage of generalist predators: Spiders in garden test systems. Ecology 71, 1441-50.
67. Riechert S. E. & Lockley T. (1984) Spiders as biological control agents. Annu. Rev. Entomol. 29, 299-320.
68. Risch S. J. & Carroll C. R. (1982) Effect of a keystone predaceous ant, Solenopsis geminata, on arthropods in a tropical agroecosystem. Ecology 63, 1979-83.
69. Roininen H., Price P. W. & Tahvanainen J. (1996) Bottom-up and top-down influences in the trophic system of a willow, a galling sawfly, parasitoids and inquilines. Oikos 77, 44-50.
70. Rosemond A. D., Mulholland P. J & Elwood J W. (1993) Top-down and bottom-up control of stream periphyton Effects of nutrients and herbivores. Ecology 74, 1264-80.
71. Rosenheim J. A., Wilhoit L. R & Armer C. A. (1993) Influence of predation among generalist insect predators on the suppression of a herbivore population. Oecologia 96, 439-49.
72. Rubio G., Casasola G. & Lavado R. S. (1995) Adaptations and biomass production of two grasses in response to water-logging and soil nutrient enrichment. Oecologia 102, 102-5.
73. Rypstra A. L. (1983) The importance of food and space in limiting web-spider densities: A test using field enclosures. Oecologia 59, 312-16.
74. Schmitz O. J. (1994) Resource edibility and trophic exploitation in an old-field food web. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 91, 5364-7.
75. Schmitz O. J., Beckerman A. P. & O'Brien K. M. (1997) Behaviorally mediated trophic cascades: Effects of predation risk on food web interactions. Ecology 78, 1388-99.
76. Siemann E. (1998) Experimental tests of effects of plant productivity and diversity on grassland arthropod diversity. Ecology 79, 2057-70.
77. Sinclair A. R. E. (1975) The resource limitation of trophic levels in tropical grassland ecosystems. J. Anim. Ecol. 44, 479-520.
78. Spain A. V. & Hutson B. R. (1983) Dynamics and fauna of the litter layers In: Soils: An Australian Viewpoint (eds G. Katsantoni & J. J. Lenaghan) pp. 611-28. CSIRO/Academic Press, Melbourne/London.
79. Spiller D. A. & Schoener T. W. (1994) Effects of top and intermediate predators in a terrestrial food web. Ecology 75, 182-96.
80. Spiller D. A. & Schoener T. W. (1995) Long-term variation in the effect of lizards on spider density is linked to rainfall. Oecologia 103, 133-9.
81. Strauss S. Y. (1987) Direct and indirect effects of host-plant fertilisation on an insect community. Ecology 68, 1670-8.
82. Strong D. R (1992) Are trophic cascades all wet? Differentiation and donor-control in speciose ecosystems. Ecology 73, 747-54.
83. Tabachnick B. G. & Fidell L. S. (1996) Using Multivariate Statistics, 3rd edn. Harper Collins College Publishers, New York, USA.
84. Tigar B. J. & Osborne P. E. (1997) Patterns of arthropod abundance and diversity in an Arabian desert. Ecography 20, 550-8.
85. Von Ende C. N. (1993) Repeated-measures analysis: Growth and other time-dependent measures. In: Design and Analysis of Ecological Experiments (eds J. Gurevitch & S. M. Scheiner) pp. 113-17. Chapman & Hall, New York, USA.
86. Wang L., Attiwill P. M. & Adams M. A. (1996) Fertiliser impacts on the understorey of a regenerating mountain ash (Eucalyptus regnans F. Muell.) forest, Victoria. Aust. J. Ecol. 21, 459-63.
87. Waser N. M. & Price M. V. (1981) Effects of grazing on diversity of annual plants in the Sonoran desert. Oecologia 50, 407-11.
88. Way M. J. & Khoo K. C. (1992) Role of ants in pest management. Annu. Rev. Entomol. 37, 479-503.
89. White T. C. R. (1978) The importance of a relative shortage of food in animal ecology. Oecologia 33, 71-86.
90. Wise D. H. (1993) Spiders in Ecological Webs. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.