Parasitoids, Patches, and Phenology: Their Possible Role in the Local Extinction of a Cynipid Gall Wasp Population
Washburn JO and Cornell HV. 1981. Parasitoids, Patches, and Phenology: Their Possible Role in the Local Extinction of a Cynipid Gall Wasp Population. Ecology. 62(6):1597-1607
The cynipid gall wasp Xanthoteras politum (Bassett) and its associated chalcid and inquiline parasitoid community were studied from 1976 to 1978 at a postfire site near Lake Oswego in the New Jersey Pine Barrens. X. politum and two other cynipid species selectively attacked new sucker shoots growing from larger fire-damaged trees. Chalcid and inquiline parasitoid attack was the major mortality factor in the population in all 3 yr. In each successive year a higher frequency of the host population was killed by parasitoid attack, and by 1978 only 76 host galls occurred at the site. Inquiline cynipids were minor parasitoid elements the 1st yr of the gall outbreak, but dominated the parasitoid guild in subsequent seasons. The parasitoid community displayed neither strong stability nor consistent composition. The apparent overexploitation of the host population by parasitoids may be to their selective advantage as phenological changes in host plants eventually eliminate X. politum from postifire sites anyway.
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Washburn, Jan; Cornell, Howard
- Units
- PINE
- Keywords
- cynipid gall wasp (Xanthoteras politum), Ecology, Extinction, parasitoids, Phenology, Research Article