Plant structural complexity and mechanical defenses mediate predator-prey interactions in an odonate-bird system.

ABSTRACT: Habitat-forming species provide refuges for a variety of associating species; these refuges may mediate interactions between species differently depending on the functional traits of the habitat-forming species. We investigated refuge provisioning by plants with different functional traits for dragonfly and damselfly (Odonata: Anisoptera and Zygoptera) nymphs emerging from water bodies to molt into their adult stage. During this period, nymphs experience high levels of predation by birds. On the shores of a small pond, plants with mechanical defenses (e.g., thorns and prickles) and high structural complexity had higher abundances of odonate exuviae than nearby plants which lacked mechanical defenses and exhibited low structural complexity. To disentangle the relative effects of these two p

SUBMITTER: Grof-Tisza P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5330893 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature