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Temporal variability of top‐down forces and their role in host choice evolution of phytophagous arthropods
Author(s) -
Scheirs Jan,
De Bruyn Luc
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
oikos
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.672
H-Index - 179
eISSN - 1600-0706
pISSN - 0030-1299
DOI - 10.1034/j.1600-0706.2002.970115.x
Subject(s) - trophic level , biology , arthropod , host (biology) , ecology , adversary , space (punctuation) , herbivore , evolutionary biology , computer science , computer security , operating system
The role of top‐down forces in host choice evolution of phytophagous arthropods is the subject of a vividly animated debate. Empirical evidence for the evolutionary role of top‐down forces comes from studies showing that phytophagous arthropods prefer hosts that entail enemy‐free space. The aim of this paper is to draw the attention of plant–arthropod researchers to the potentially, temporally variable nature of third trophic level effects. We show that this aspect is largely neglected in studies on enemy‐free space, despite the fact that relative enemy impact varies seasonally among plants in at least some studies. We conclude that rigorous testing of the enemy‐free space hypothesis can only be performed when within and between season variation in higher trophic level effects is taken into account.