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An inherited virus influences the coexistence of parasitoid species through behaviour manipulation
Author(s) -
Patot Sabine,
Allemand Roland,
Fleury Frédéric,
Varaldi Julien
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
ecology letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.852
H-Index - 265
eISSN - 1461-0248
pISSN - 1461-023X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2012.01774.x
Subject(s) - parasitoid , biology , horizontal transmission , competition (biology) , ecology , virus , host (biology) , zoology , virology
Ecology Letters (2012) Abstract The potential role of pathogens or parasites in maintaining species coexistence is well documented. However, the impact of vertically transmitted symbionts, that can markedly modify their host’s biology, is largely unknown. Some females of the Drosophila parasitoid Leptopilina boulardi are infected with an inherited virus (LbFV). The virus forces females to lay supernumerary eggs in already parasitised hosts, thus allowing its horizontal transmission. Using two independent experimental procedures, we found that LbFV impacts inter‐specific competition between L. boulardi and the related L. heterotoma . While L. boulardi rapidly outcompetes L. heterotoma in the absence of the virus, L. heterotoma was able to maintain or even to eliminate L. boulardi in the presence of LbFV. By forcing females to superparasitise, LbFV induced egg wastage in L. boulardi thus explaining its impact on the competition outcome. We conclude that this symbiont whose transmission is L. boulardi ‐density‐dependant may affect the coexistence of Leptopilina species.