Niche comparison among two invasive leafminer species and their parasitoid Opius biroi: implications for competitive displacement

Fundamental to competitive displacement in biological invasion is that exotic species occupy the ecological niches of native species in novel environments. Contrasting outcomes of competitive displacement have occurred between Liriomyza trifolii and L. sativae in different geographical regions following their introduction. Various factors have been advanced in an attempt to explain these different competitive outcomes, although none of these explanations have addressed the effects of niche differences. We conducted field cage experiments to compare the feeding and habitat niches of the two leafminer species and their primary parasitoid, Opius biroi, when occurring together on kidney bean. A wider spatiotemporal niche breadth was found in L. trifolii (0.3670) than in L. sativae (0.3496). With respect to the parasitoid, the proportional niche similarity between L. sativae and the parasitoid was 0.3936 but only 0.0835 for L. trifolii, while similar results were found for niche overlap, indicating that stronger trailing behaviour and parasitic effects of O. biroi occurred in L. sativae. In conclusion, L. trifolii has outperformed L. sativae in occupying the ecological niche and is superior to L. sativae in avoiding parasitization by the pupal parasitoid, O. biroi.