The behavioral type of a top predator drives the short-term dynamic of intraguild predation

Variation in behavior among individual top predators (i.e., the behavioral type) can strongly shape pest suppression in intraguild predation (IGP). However, the effect of a top predator’s behavioral type—namely, foraging aggressiveness (number of killed divided by prey time) and prey choosiness (preference degree for certain prey type)—on the dynamic of IGP may interact with the relative abundances of top predator, mesopredator, and pest. We investigated the influence of the top predator’s behavioral type on the dynamic of IGP in a three-species system with a top predator spider, a mesopredator spider, and a psyllid pest using a simulation model. The model parameters were estimated from laboratory experiments and field observations. The top predator’s behavioral type altered the food-web dynamics in a context-dependent manner. The system with an aggressive/nonchoosy top predator, without prey preferences between pest and mesopredator, suppressed the pest more when the top predator to me...