Praying mantids: Big arthropods producing big effects in food webs

Praying Mantids (Mantodea) are often the largest arthropod predators in many ecosystems. They can also reach relatively high densities and become the ecologically dominant arthropod predator. At these high densities and because they are generalist predators, mantids often have profound effects on food webs by consuming herbivores, predators, and detritivores. These impacts on other consumers can cause indirect effects on plants providing an example of a trophic cascade. Although several studies have shown trophic cascades initiated by mantids, most of these investigations have been performed in temperate parts of the world and have often utilized introduced species. There is some evidence that introduced temperate mantids reach densities higher than their native counterparts, indicating that the strength of these trophic cascades may be artificially high. The role of the diverse assemblage of tropical mantids and native temperate mantids has been poorly studied and should be addressed by future research.