Asymmetrical intra-guild predation and niche differentiation in two pit-building antlions

Ofer Ovadia*, Inon Scharf, Erez David Barkae, Tanya Levi, Yehonatan Alcalay

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

8 Scopus citations

Abstract

Co-occurring species often compete with each other directly and indirectly. Intra-guild predation (IGP) is an extreme manifestation of direct competition, which involves the attack, killing and eating of potential competitors. We studied the competitive interactions between two pit-building antlion species that co-occur in the Israeli desert: Myrmeleon hyalinus residing in the more productive sandy soil, and Cueta lineosa solely inhabiting poorer loess soils. To understand the mechanisms driving C. lineosa away from the more productive habitat, we explored the factors triggering IGP of one antlion species on the other. We tested whether IGP is affected by soil type, depth and temperature. IGP was asymmetrical with M. hyalinus preying on C. lineosa, and it intensified as the size difference favoring the former increased. Interactive rather than additive effects governed IGP, which was lowest in sandy soil combined with low temperature, and highest in shallow loess soil. C. lineosa possesses a smaller head and thorax relative to its abdomen compared to M. hyalinus, providing a possible explanation for the advantage of M. hyalinus in direct competition. We then focused on the weaker competitor, C. lineosa, examining how it copes with competition induced by M. hyalinus. Both the growth and survival rates of C. lineosa declined in the presence of M. hyalinus. The asymmetrical IGP C. lineosa experiences from M. hyalinus combined with its competitive inferiority may explain why it is mostly found in poor habitats, while its intra-guild competitor is abundant in the more productive habitats.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)82-90
Number of pages9
JournalIsrael Journal of Ecology and Evolution
Volume66
Issue number1-2
DOIs
StatePublished - 2020
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.

Keywords

  • Myrmeleontidae
  • cannibalism
  • desert ecology
  • interference competition
  • sit-And-wait predator
  • trap-building predator

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