Complex-to-predict generational shift between nested and clustered organization of individual prey networks in digger wasps.

ABSTRACT: Although diet has traditionally been considered to be a property of the species or populations as a whole, there is nowadays extensive knowledge that individual specialization is widespread among animal populations. Nevertheless, the factors determining the shape of interactions within food webs remain largely undiscovered, especially in predatory insects. We used an aggregation of the digger wasp Bembix merceti to 1) analyse patterns of individual prey use across three flying seasons in a network-based context; and 2) test the effect of four potential factors that might explain network topologies (wasp mass, nest spatial distribution, simultaneous nest-provisioning, prey availability). Inter-individual diet variation was found in all three years, under different predator-prey network topo

SUBMITTER: Ballesteros Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4096507 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature