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Temperature Affects Chemical Defense in a Mite-Beetle Predator-Prey System

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Abstract

Temperature influences all biochemical and biophysiological processes within an organism. By extension, it also affects those ecological interactions that are mediated by gland-produced chemical compounds, such as reservoir-based chemical defense. Herein, we investigate how environmental temperature affects the regeneration of defensive secretions and influences the efficacy of chemical defense in a model predator-prey system: the oribatid mite Archegozetes longisetosus and the predaceous rove beetle Stenus juno. Through a combination of chemical analyses, non-linear regression modeling and theoretical simulations we show that the amount of defensive secretion responded to temperature in a unimodal optimum curve: the regeneration rate followed a positive, linear relationship up to 35 °C, but rapidly broke down beyond this temperature (“tipping point” effect). Using functional response simulations, there is an initially positive dampening effect on the predation rate when regeneration is optimal, but at higher temperatures chemical defense does not counteract the previously described effects of elevated predatory pressure. In a larger context, our results demonstrate the need to integrate relevant environmental factors in predator-prey modeling approaches.

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Acknowledgments

We want to thank Roy A. Norton for language editing and proofreading. AB was funded by the German Nation Academic Foundation and is a Simons Fellow of the Life Sciences Research Foundation (LSRF). The study was supported by the German Science Foundation (DFG; HE 4593/5–1).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ecological Networks, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Schnittspahnstraße 3, 64287, Darmstadt, Germany

    Christoph Merkel & Michael Heethoff

  2. Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology, 1200 East California Boulevard, Pasadena, CA, 91125, USA

    Adrian Brückner

Authors
  1. Christoph Merkel
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  2. Michael Heethoff
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  3. Adrian Brückner
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Contributions

AB initial idea; AB, MH designed research; CM performed experiments and chemical analysis; CM, AB modeled and statistically analyzed the data; AB wrote the first draft with input from CM; AB revised the manuscript; MH, CM commented on the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Adrian Brückner.

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Merkel, C., Heethoff, M. & Brückner, A. Temperature Affects Chemical Defense in a Mite-Beetle Predator-Prey System. J Chem Ecol 46, 947–955 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-020-01212-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-020-01212-3

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