Data and code from: Parasitic wasp-associated polydnavirus and venom affect arthropod community assembly on wild cabbage via the caterpillar host

Kalisvaart, Sarah Naomi 1 ; Bolletta, Gabriele 1 ; Joachim, Gabriel1; Dicke, Marcel1; Adam, Maximilien2 1; Poelman, Erik 1

Published Jul 21, 2026 on Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.m63xsj4j6

Data files

Jul 21, 2026 version files 220 KB

02_All_R_data.csv

151.63 KB
Chapter_2_R_script_EE_manuscript.R

62.96 KB
README.md

5.41 KB

Abstract

Cotesia glomerata is an endoparasitoid wasp that injects a polydnavirus and a venom alongside its eggs upon oviposition. When C. glomerata parasitises its host Pieris brasicae, the behaviour and physiology of the host are changed. These behavioural and physiological changes may affect how a feed plant responds to herbivory by the affected caterpillar host. We investigated the ecological consequences of parasitism and its associated injection components on assembly of arthropod communities in an open-field setting. We exposed wild Brassica oleracea plants to herbivory by unparasitised P. brassicae caterpillars, caterpillars parasitised by C. glomerata, caterpillars injected with polydnavirus and/or venom, and we used uninduced plants as control. We monitored the naturally occurring arthropod community on these plants throughout the growing season focusing on both overall community composition and the abundance of individual species.
The dataset includes arthropod abundance and species identity recorded at repeated sampling occasions, treatment information, plant identifiers, sampling dates and experimental metadata. Our results show that arthropod community composition was marginally affected by components of parasitism and subtle effects were found for interactions with specific herbivore species. Plants damaged by P. brassicae injected with both polydnavirus and venom were colonised more often by Mamestra brassicae caterpillars, Myzus persicae aphids and aphid parasitoids compared to uninduced plants or plants induced by unparasitised P. brassicae caterpillars. Our results show that parasitoid polydnavirus and venom, either alone or in combination, affect colonisation by members of the arthropod community in a natural field setting. These modulating effects deserve attention in future studies that investigate the dynamics of plant-arthropod communities.

Dataset DOI: 10.5061/dryad.m63xsj4j6

Description of the data and file structure

This dataset contains the data and code required to replicate the analyses in the manuscript of Kalisvaart et al. 2026 titled "Parasitic wasp-associated polydnavirus and venom affect arthropod community assembly on wild cabbage via the caterpillar host". The file "02_All_R_data.csv" is the primary dataset utilised for our statistical analyses and contains both the arthropod community data as well as the environmental data. Dates are given in day/month/year notation and in calendar weeks. Additionally, the file "Chapter_2_R_script_EE_manuscript.R" contains the R script we used to analyse this .csv file.

Files and variables

File: 02_All_R_data.csv

Description: Main dataset containing arthropod abundance and species identity recorded at repeated sampling occasions, treatment information, plant identifiers, sampling dates and experimental metadata.

Variables

Name: name of the person who collected the data in that row.
Treatment: induction treatment of the monitored plant.
Block: block the plant belonged to. A block consists of 6 plots. A plot consists of 9 plants of the same treatment (4 of which were monitored).
Plot: Area of 9 plants of the same treatment, 4 of which where monitored.
Plant: Number assigned to the individual plant within the plot, ranging 1-4.
PlantID: individual plant identifier.
Date: date the monitoring data was collected, given in day/month/year notation.
Week: calendar week the monitoring data was collected.
Day: day the data was collected. Not recorded in date, but in days (first day of monitoring, second day, etc).
Round: the round the data was collected. One monitoring round was completed once all eight blocks (entire field) had been monitored.
Herb_dum: dummy variable for the herbivore analysis

B.brassicae: Brevicoryne brassicae

L.erysimi: Lipaphis erysimi

M.persicae.nicotianae: Myzus persicae nicotianae

M.persicae: Myzus persicae

A.nerii: Aphis nerii

P.xylostella: Plutella xylostella

E.forficalis: Evergestis forficalis

E.extimalis: Evergestis extimalis

M.brassicae: Mamestra brassicae

P.rapae: Pieris rapae

A.gamma: Autographa gamma

L.suasa: Lacanobia suasa

P.brassicae: Pieris brassicae

Nabis.spp.: Nabis spp.

Thrips: Thrips

L.hesperus: Lygus hesperus

P.undulata: Phyllotreta undulata

P.atra: Phyllotreta atra

M.aeneus: Meligethes aeneus

P.cochleariae: Phaedon cochleariae

A.proletella: Aleyodes proletella

L.decemlineata: Leptinotarsa decemlineata

H.halys: Halyomorpha halys

Weevils: Weevlis

E.oleracea: Eurydema oleracea

A.rosae: Athalia rosae

Grasshoppers: Grasshoppers

A.io: Aglais io

Leaf.miner: Leaf miner

Nat_dum: Dummy variable natural enemies

Mummy: parasitised aphids (mummies)

Mummy.hill: parasitised aphids (mummy on a hill)

Syrphids: Syrphids

Lacewings: Lacewings

Spiders: Spiders

M.mediator: Microplitis mediator cocoon

C.rubecula: Cotesia rubecula cocoon

C.glomerata: Cotesia glomerata cocoon

C.lineola: Cotesia lineola cocoon

Coccinellidae.spp.: Coccinellidae spp

E.carinifer: Euplectrus carinifer

Cotesia.spp.lacanobia: Cotesia spp cocoon found on lacanobia

Orius.spp.: Orius spp.

Gall.midge: Gall midge

File: Chapter_2_R_script_EE_manuscript.R

Description: R script used for data analysis. Steps are detailed in the script. The bottom of the script describes additional analyses that were not included in the article.

Code/software

## RSLanguage

The script is written using R in Rstudio.

## RSRequirements

- R version 4.2.2 (2022-10-31 ucrt)

- Rstudio 2022.7.2.576

- Windows 10 x64 build 19044

R Packages used: car (car_3.1-5), DHARMa (DHARMa_0.4.7), dplyr (dplyr_1.1.4), emmeans (emmeans_2.0.3), ggplot2 (ggplot2_4.0.3), glmmTMB (glmmTMB_1.1.14) and vegan (vegan_2.7-5).

## RSInstallation

All software and libraries used to create the script are open source and freely available. No updates to

this script will take place, it only exists to reproduce the current results and are not necessarily

meant for implementation in other projects than the current one. Although it is expected that the script

using the aforementioned library versions will work with future versions of the libraries, it is

recommended to use the script using the library versions specified. To do so, either install the packages

using:

## RSOperatingInstructions

The script can be run when altering the folder structure to your own folder structure. However, the name of the file is slightly different in the script. Removing numbering from the file name should solve this issue (e.g. 02_All_R_data.csv should be called Ch2 all data R.csv)

The script has pointers to the correct folders, file names and files to be imported.

Check all data paths and adapt to your own paths. The right working directory should be set ( setwd() ).

Access information

Other publicly accessible locations of the data:

Data was derived from the following sources:

Monitoring data from plants grown on the experimental fields of Wageningen University.