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Cooperation is a ubiquitous behavior in many biological systems and is well-known for promoting Allee effects. However, few studies have paid attention to mechanisms inducing Allee effects in predators. Here, we focus on hunting cooperation and use a classical predator–prey system for identifying the impact of this mechanism. We add a cooperation term to the attack rate of the predator population, and investigate the equilibrium stability in phase plane and bifurcation diagrams. We show that hunting cooperation can be beneficial to the predator population by increasing the attack rate. We identify a scenario in which hunting cooperation produces Allee effects in predators and allows the latter to persist when the prey population does not sustain them in the absence of hunting cooperation. However, hunting cooperation can turn detrimental to predators when prey density drastically decreases because of increased predation pressure, which in turn decreases the predator intake. Hunting cooperation can also destabilize the system and promote a sudden collapse of the predator population. We generalize the model and prove that demographic Allee effects always occur when (1) the attack rate increases with the predator density, and (2) the functional response increases with the attack rate. We conclude that Allee effects in predators might be more widespread than expected. Mechanisms inducing such effects may strongly influence not only predators, but also the fate of ecosystems involving predators as in biological control programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding how arthropod pests and their natural enemies interact in complex agroecosystems is essential for pest management programmes. Theory predicts that prey sharing a predator, such as a biological control agent, can indirectly reduce each other's density at equilibrium (apparent competition). From this premise, we (i) discuss the complexity of indirect interactions among pests in agroecosystems and highlight the importance of natural enemy-mediated indirect interactions other than apparent competition, (ii) outline factors that affect the nature of enemy-mediated indirect interactions in the field and (iii) identify the way to manipulate enemy-mediated interactions for biological control. We argue that there is a need to increase the link between community ecology theory and biological control to develop better agroecological methods of crop protection via conservation biological control. In conclusion, we identify (i) interventions to be chosen depending on agroecosystem characteristics and (ii) several lines of research that will improve the potential for enemy-mediated indirect interactions to be applied to biological control. © 2014 Society of Chemical Industry [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]