Human-mediated disturbance in multitrophic interactions results in outbreak levels of North America's most venomous caterpillar.

ABSTRACT: Anthropogenic environmental change is predicted to disrupt multitrophic interactions, which may have drastic consequences for population-level processes. Here, we investigate how a large-scale human-mediated disturbance affects the abundance of North America's most venomous caterpillar species, Megalopyge opercularis. Specifically, we used a natural experiment where netting was deployed to cover the entire canopies of a subset of mature southern live oak trees (Quercus virginiana) to exclude urban pest birds (grackles and pigeons), throughout an 8.1 km² area encompassing a medical centre in Houston, Texas. We used this experimental exclusion to test the following hypothesis: release from avian predators increases caterpillar abundance to outbreak levels, which increases the risk

SUBMITTER: Hood GR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6769147 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature