Generalist and sticky plant specialist predators suppress herbivores on a sticky plant

Abstract

Glandular trichomes are conventionally viewed as a type of direct defense against herbivores that carry indirect costs associated with the exclusion of numerous predators. We tested the hypothesis that predators are ineffective on sticky plants using a predator that is adapted to sticky plants, the harpactorine assassin bug Pselliopus spinicollis Champion, and a common surrogate generalist predator in analogous studies, the coccinellid Hippodamia convergens Guerin. We tested their top–down effects on herbivores using sticky and non-sticky races of common madia plants (Asteraceae: Madia elegans) and their native herbivores, a noctuid moth (Noctuiidae: Heliothodes diminutiva Hodges) and an aphid (Aphididae: Uroleucon madia Swain). We report that both predators were effective at reducing herbivore abundances on sticky and non-sticky plants, with greater efficacy on sticky plants.