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Herbivores may interact with each other through resource competition, but also through their impact on plant defence. We recently found that the spider mite  Tetranychus evansi  down-regulates plant defences in tomato plants, resulting in higher rates of oviposition and population growth on previously attacked than on unattacked leaves. The danger of such down-regulation is that attacked plants could become a more profitable resource for heterospecific competitors, such as the two-spotted spider mite  Tetranychus urticae . Indeed,  T. urticae  had an almost 2-fold higher rate of oviposition on leaf discs on which  T. evansi  had fed previously. In contrast, induction of direct plant defences by  T. urticae  resulted in decreased oviposition by  T. evansi . Hence, both herbivores affect each other through induced plant responses. However, when populations of  T. evansi  and  T. urticae  competed on the same plants, populations of the latter invariably went extinct, whereas  T. evansi  was not significantly affected by the presence of its competitor. This suggests that  T. evansi  can somehow prevent its competitor from benefiting from the down-regulated plant defence, perhaps by covering it with a profuse web. Indeed, we found that  T. urticae  had difficulties reaching the leaf surface to feed when the leaf was covered with web produced by  T. evansi . Furthermore,  T. evansi  produced more web when exposed to damage or other cues associated with  T. urticae . We suggest that the silken web produced by  T. evansi  serves to prevent competitors from profiting from down-regulated plant defences.

A Herbivorous Mite Down-Regulates Plant Defence and Produces Web to Exclude Competitors