Consequences of eating infected prey

We investigate the ways in which consuming pathogen-infected prey influence some important life-history parameters of insect predators. Pathogens are used in a variety of biocontrol programs, especially to control crop pests. We focused on crop-pests due to their short generation times, economic importance, and the plethora of available studies. We found that true predators (i.e., spiders) have no preference for healthy or infected prey. When they consume infected prey, they have reduced fecundity, survival, and longevity. However, parasitoids avoided infected prey when possible. This choosiness is important to consider when applying multiple biocontrol agents. For instance, parasitoids and pathogens will likely do a better job controlling pests as predators would reduce the amount of pathogen available and have reduced fitness from consuming infected prey. However, theory suggests that predators that consume infected prey may create a stable community with predator, prey, and pathogen all coexisting. 

Andrew Flick

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