Abstract
Summary Predicted changes in the frequency and intensity of extreme rainfall events in the UK have the potential to disrupt terrestrial ecosystem function. However, responses of different trophic levels to these changes in rainfall patterns, and the underlying mechanisms, are not well‐characterised. This study aimed to investigate how changes in both the quantity and frequency of rainfall events will affect the outcome of interactions between plants, insect herbivores (above‐ and below‐ground) and natural enemies. Hordeum vulgare L. plants were grown in controlled conditions and in the field, and subjected to three precipitation scenarios: ambient (based on a local 10 year average rainfall); continuous drought (40% reduction compared with ambient); drought/deluge (40% reduction compared to ambient at a reduced frequency). The effects of these watering regimes and wireworm ( Agriotes species) root herbivory on the performance of the plants, aphid herbivores above‐ground ( Sitobion avenae, Metapolophium dirhodum , and Rhopalosiphum padi ), and natural enemies of aphids including ladybirds ( Harmonia axyridis ) were assessed from measurements of plant growth, insect abundance and mass, and assays of feeding behaviour. Continuous drought decreased plant biomass, whereas reducing the frequency of watering events did not affect plant biomass but did alter plant chemical composition. In controlled conditions, continuous drought ameliorated the negative impact of wireworms on plant biomass. Compared with the ambient treatment, aphid mass was increased by 15% when feeding on plants subjected to drought/deluge; and ladybirds were 66% heavier when feeding on these aphids but this did not affect ladybird prey choice. In field conditions, wireworms feeding below‐ground reduced the number of shoot‐feeding aphids under ambient and continuous drought conditions but not under drought/deluge. Predicted changes in both the frequency and intensity of precipitation events under climate change have the potential to limit plant growth, but reduce wireworm herbivory, whilst simultaneously promoting above‐ground aphid numbers and mass, with these effects transferring to the third trophic level. Understanding the effect of future changes in the precipitation on species interactions is critical for determining their potential impact on ecosystem functioning and constructing accurate predictions under global change scenarios. A lay summary is available for this article.
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Claims 8
Claim · model-written summary
Continuous drought decreased barley plant biomass.
- Taxon
- Hordeum vulgare
.jpg?width=60)
Hordeum vulgaree1 - Treatment
- Continuous droughte2
- Outcome
- plant biomasse2
- Direction
- decreasede2
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
.jpg?width=500)
Verbatim
e1“Hordeum vulgare L. plants were grown in controlled conditions and in the field”
e2“Continuous drought decreased plant biomass, whereas reducing the frequency of watering events did not affect plant biomass but did alter plant chemical composition”
Claim · model-written summary
Reducing the frequency of watering events did not affect barley plant biomass.
- Taxon
- Hordeum vulgareHordeum vulgaree1
- Treatment
- reducing the frequency of watering eventse2
- Outcome
- plant biomasse2
- Direction
- did not affecte2
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e1“Hordeum vulgare L. plants were grown in controlled conditions and in the field”
e2“Continuous drought decreased plant biomass, whereas reducing the frequency of watering events did not affect plant biomass but did alter plant chemical composition”
Claim · model-written summary
Reducing the frequency of watering events altered barley plant chemical composition.
- Taxon
- Hordeum vulgareHordeum vulgaree1
- Treatment
- reducing the frequency of watering eventse2
- Outcome
- plant chemical compositione2
- Direction
- did altere2
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e1“Hordeum vulgare L. plants were grown in controlled conditions and in the field”
e2“Continuous drought decreased plant biomass, whereas reducing the frequency of watering events did not affect plant biomass but did alter plant chemical composition”
Claim · model-written summary
In controlled conditions, continuous drought ameliorated the negative effect of wireworm root herbivory on barley biomass.
- Taxon
- Hordeum vulgareHordeum vulgaree1
- Treatment
- continuous droughte4
- Outcome
- plant biomasse4
- Direction
- amelioratede4
- Setting
- controlled conditionse4
AgriotesNot reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e1“Hordeum vulgare L. plants were grown in controlled conditions and in the field”
e4“In controlled conditions, continuous drought ameliorated the negative impact of wireworms on plant biomass”
e5“The effects of these watering regimes and wireworm ( Agriotes species) root herbivory”
Claim · model-written summary
Aphid mass was 15% higher on barley subjected to drought/deluge than on ambient barley.
- Taxon
- Hordeum vulgareHordeum vulgaree1
- Treatment
- drought/delugee6
- Interactor
- aphide6herbivore
- Outcome
- aphid masse6
- Direction
- increasede6
- Value
- 15%e6
- Comparator
- ambient treatmente6
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e1“Hordeum vulgare L. plants were grown in controlled conditions and in the field”
e6“Compared with the ambient treatment, aphid mass was increased by 15% when feeding on plants subjected to drought/deluge”
Claim · model-written summary
Ladybirds were 66% heavier when feeding on aphids from drought/deluge plants.
- Taxon
- Hordeum vulgareHordeum vulgaree1
- Treatment
- feeding on these aphidse7
- Interactor
- Harmonia axyridis
.jpg?width=60)
Harmonia axyridise6biocontrol_agent - Outcome
- ladybirdse7
- Direction
- heaviere7
- Value
- 66%e7
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
.jpg?width=500)
Verbatim
e1“Hordeum vulgare L. plants were grown in controlled conditions and in the field”
e7“ladybirds were 66% heavier when feeding on these aphids but this did not affect ladybird prey choice”
e6“natural enemies of aphids including ladybirds ( Harmonia axyridis )”
Claim · model-written summary
Ladybird prey choice was not affected by feeding on these aphids.
- Taxon
- Hordeum vulgareHordeum vulgaree1
- Treatment
- feeding on these aphidse7
- Interactor
- Harmonia axyridisHarmonia axyridise6biocontrol_agent
- Outcome
- ladybird prey choicee7
- Direction
- did not affecte7
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e1“Hordeum vulgare L. plants were grown in controlled conditions and in the field”
e7“ladybirds were 66% heavier when feeding on these aphids but this did not affect ladybird prey choice”
e6“natural enemies of aphids including ladybirds ( Harmonia axyridis )”
Claim · model-written summary
In field conditions, wireworms feeding below-ground reduced shoot-feeding aphid numbers under ambient and continuous drought, but not under drought/deluge.
- Taxon
- Hordeum vulgareHordeum vulgaree1
- Treatment
- wireworms feeding below‐grounde7
- Interactor
- aphidsAphidomorphae7herbivore
- Outcome
- number of shoot‐feeding aphidse7
- Direction
- reducede7
- Qualifier
- but not under drought/delugee7
- Setting
- In field conditionse7
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e1“Hordeum vulgare L. plants were grown in controlled conditions and in the field”
e5“The effects of these watering regimes and wireworm ( Agriotes species) root herbivory”
e7“In field conditions, wireworms feeding below‐ground reduced the number of shoot‐feeding aphids under ambient and continuous drought conditions but not under drought/deluge”
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See all 105 papers →Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.