PARASITOID SPECIES RICHNESS, HOST MORTALITY, AND BIOLOGICAL-CONTROL

Examines the relationships among parasitoid species richness (parasitoid species per host species), host mortality from parasitoids, and the impact of parasitoids on host populations using three data sets, the first quantifying the number of parasitoids attacking native herbivorous insect species throughout the world, the second estimating host mortality levels (percentage parasitism) for native herbivores, and the third evaluating the impact of parasitoid introductions on non-native pests. Irrespective of whether refuges, ecological succession, or some other as yet unknown mechanism will ultimately be shown to be responsible for the observed patterns, there do appear to be links between population- and community-level processes in host-parasitoid systems. -from Author