Data from: Classical biological control and apparent competition: evaluating a waterhyacinth invaded community module

Principal Investigator(s):  View help for Principal Investigator(s) US Department of Agriculture; National Agricultural Library

Version:  View help for Version V1

Name File Type Size Last Modified
MS_Indirect_Data_Commons_version.xlsx application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet 40.4 KB 06/26/2026 11:46:AM
adc_metadata.json application/json 23.9 KB 06/26/2026 08:55:PM
catalog_detail.html text/html 10.6 KB 06/26/2026 11:46:AM

Project Citation: 

US Department of Agriculture, and National Agricultural Library. Data from: Classical biological control and apparent competition: evaluating a waterhyacinth invaded community module. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2026-06-27. https://doi.org/10.3886/E250369V1

Project Description

Project Title:  View help for Project Title Data from: Classical biological control and apparent competition: evaluating a waterhyacinth invaded community module
Summary:  View help for Summary The scope and complexity of interactions within community food webs necessitates their simplification to a community module scale for conducting empirical studies. An outdoor mesocosm study in the USA quantified the strengths of direct and indirect interactions between two herbivore congeners that fed on two aquatic plant species while sharing a parasitoid. Kalopolynema ema (Hymenoptera: Mymaridae) is a stenophagous native egg parasitoid that attacks the hemipteran species in this study, Megamelus davisi (Hemiptera: Delphacidae), a native herbivore that feeds on the native aquatic species Nuphar advena, and the introduced biological control agent Megamelus scutellaris (Hemiptera: Delphacidae) that feeds on the non-native aquatic species waterhyacinth, Pontederia crassipes. The presence of M. scutellaris did not significantly increase parasitism of M. davisi indicating that apparent competition was not a factor in this community module. There was no evidence of any trophic cascades caused by these interactions based on the relative growth rates of biomass and leaf area for both plant species. The relative strengths of interactions varied with herbivore densities suggesting that should negative indirect effects occur they would likely be transient and closely linked to population dynamics as influenced by abiotic factors like temperature. The primary negative interaction was biotic resistance to Megamelus scutellaris from attack by Kalopolynema ema. Despite identifying potential negative interactions using path analysis, we saw no apparent competition following the insertion of a weed biological control agent into a community that contains an ecological analog.


Resources in this dataset:

Resource Title: Indirect Effects SS mesocosm . File Name: MS Indirect Data Commons version.xlsxResource Description: Raw data from MS Indirect study in mesocosms. NA = Nuphar advena, WH = Pontederia crassipes, MD = Megamelus davisi, MS = M. scutellaris., KE = Kalopolynema ema, BGBM = below ground biomass.

Resource Title: Indirect Effects SS mesocosm .

File Name: MS Indirect Data Commons version.xlsx

Resource Description: Raw data from MS Indirect study in mesocosms. NA = Nuphar advena, WH = Pontederia crassipes, MD = Megamelus davisi, MS = M. scutellaris., KE = Kalopolynema ema, BGBM = below ground biomass.
Original Distribution URL:  View help for Original Distribution URL https://agdatacommons.nal.usda.gov/articles/dataset/Data_from_Classical_biological_control_and_apparent_competition_evaluating_a_waterhyacinth_invaded_community_module/24664818

Scope of Project

Subject Terms:  View help for Subject Terms biological control; mesocosm studies; community food webs; data.gov; ARS
Data Type(s):  View help for Data Type(s) geographic information system (GIS) data
Collection Notes:  View help for Collection Notes DOI: 10.15482/USDA.ADC/1517659 Citation: Tipping, Philip; Smith, Melissa C.; Lake, Ellen C.; Minteer, Carey R.; Goode, Ashley B. C.; Foley, Jeremiah R.; Gettys, Lyn A. (2020). Data from: Classical biological control and apparent competition: evaluating a waterhyacinth invaded community module. Ag Data Commons. https://doi.org/10.15482/USDA.ADC/1517659 (Downloaded 2026-06-26)


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V1 [2026-06-27]

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