Insect communities of Phragmites habitats used for sewage purification: Effects of age and area of habitats on species richness and herbivore-parasitoid interactions

Experiments in Colorado and New York streams assessed the effects of predaceous stoneflies on benthic invertebrate community establishment in enclosures providing uncolonized habitat. Aspects of prey community structure measured were density, species richness, relative species abundance, and body size. Unexpected inorganic sediment deposition allowed evaluation of direct effects on Colorado stream benthos and indirect effects on predation. Predaceous perlids and perlodids consistently reduced the density and, therefore, rate of prey community establishment in enclosures. Although New York perlids disproportionately reduced densities of some prey species, Colorado stoneflies caused nonsignificant declines in individual prey species densities, the composite effect of which was a significant whole-community response. Predators did not affect prey species richness nor change the taxonomic composition (species additions or deletions) of communities colonizing enclosures. However, the relative abundance of prey taxa differed significantly between cages with and without predators. Most species showed no size differences between individuals colonizing enclosures with predators and those colonizing control enclosures, with a few interesting exceptions. The deposition of silt eliminated the predator effects on prey density, as well as directly causing significant reductions in many Colorado benthic populations. This result demonstrates that abiotic disturbances can periodically override the effects of predation on stream insect communities colonizing enclosures.

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Upper Cretaceous amber arthropods and their implications on changes in insect community structure

The Paleontological Society Special Publications ◽

10.1017/s2475262200007942 ◽

1992 ◽

Vol 6 ◽

pp. 234-234

Author(s):

E. M. Pike

Keyword(s):

Species Richness ◽

Upper Cretaceous ◽

Terrestrial Ecosystems ◽

Taxonomic Structure ◽

Insect Community ◽

Insect Communities ◽

Insect Fauna ◽

The Family ◽

The Usa ◽

The Baltic

Assessment of changes in terrestrial ecosystems since Cretaceous time, until recently, has had to rely on paleobotany (including paleopalynology) and vertebrate paleontology to provide data for analysis. Insects contribute a major portion of the terrestrial diversity in any ecosystem, but their fossil record and state of preservation had discouraged paleoecological study beyond the Pleistocene. With the discovery of prolific Upper Cretaceous amber deposits in Russia and Canada, and the investigation of Tertiary amber deposits from the Baltic, the Dominican Republic, Mexico and the USA, the prospect of clarifying changes in insect diversity and ecology over time becomes real. Methods are reported which allow the description of species richness and relative abundance of arthropod taxa from an Upper Cretaceous (Campanian: 75 MYA) amber deposit in Alberta, Canada. Diversity and abundance are described at the Order level for hexapods, and for the Acarina and Araneae. Taxa present, in order of abundance, are Homoptera (66 specimens/kg of amber), Diptera (28/kg), Acarina (21/kg), Hymenoptera (13/kg), Araneae (12/kg), Psocoptera (4/kg), Coleoptera (2/kg), Blattodea (1/kg), Thysanoptera (1/kg), Trichoptera (0.6/kg). Other orders present are Lepidoptera, Collembola, Dermaptera, Mantodea, and Ephemeroptera. In total, of 35 identified families, 8 are extinct. There are about 20 genera identified, of which only 1 is extant. All identified species are extinct. Estimated species richness is about 100 species of arthropods. In comparison, virtually all Families reported from Baltic amber (Oligocene) are still extant, as are the majority of genera. Morphology and feeding structures are well within the variation seen in modern insects. This suggests that throughout the Tertiary, Entomologists would feel quite at home with the insect fauna, and during the Upper Cretaceous, they would have little difficulty identifying insects at least to the family level. It is hypothesized that the taxonomic structure of modern insect communities was well established before the end of the Cretaceous, and that the structure and interrelationships of insect guilds were also very similar to those of today.

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Impacts of mountain forest dieback on aquatic insect communities: A DNA metabarcoding analysis of samples from the Bavarian Forest

ARPHA Conference Abstracts ◽

10.3897/aca.4.e65070 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 4 ◽

Author(s):

Erik Rohe ◽

Paul Schmidt Yáñez ◽

Michael Monaghan

Keyword(s):

Species Richness ◽

Forest Management ◽

Aquatic Insect ◽

Ips Typographus ◽

Macroinvertebrate Communities ◽

Insect Communities ◽

Forest Dieback ◽

Dna Metabarcoding ◽

Bavarian Forest ◽

Disturbed Forest

Mountain forests are increasingly affected by changes in rainfall and pest outbreaks, and the way forests are managed can have direct consequences for the streams flowing through forests. Aquatic macroinvertebrate communities are great bioindicators and changes to their ecosystem likely translates to changes in their overall composition and abundance. The Bavarian Forest National Park (SE Germany) is dominated by the Norway spruce (Picea abies) which, weakened by storms and other stressors, is susceptible to infestation by the European spruce bark beetle (Ips typographus). The result is large scale forest dieback in some areas, and forest management practices that lead to a predominance of three different forest types (hereafter habitats): Intact forest that is healthy and not impacted by Ips typographus; Disturbed forest that was impacted by Ips typographus, left to regenerate naturally, and from which deadwood was not removed; and Salvaged forest that was heavily impacted by Ips typographus with the same consequences, but from which deadwood was removed, creating a treeless forest meadow. Intact forest that is healthy and not impacted by Ips typographus; Disturbed forest that was impacted by Ips typographus, left to regenerate naturally, and from which deadwood was not removed; and Salvaged forest that was heavily impacted by Ips typographus with the same consequences, but from which deadwood was removed, creating a treeless forest meadow. To analyze the impacts these different forest management strategies have on the aquatic insect communities, 30 samples from 11 different streams were taken using kick-sampling. Operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were identified by bulk metabarcoding of dried, ground samples. A mock community was used to verify the setup and a DNA spike-in with three foreign OTUs was added to each sample to measure the biases introduced by PCR amplification and sequencing. Biases varied across samples, but spike-in OTUs produced a pattern indicating predictable biases which could lead to quantifiable metabarcoding results in the future. In total, 260 macroinvertebrate OTUs were identified. In comparison, a morphological study by Bojková et al. (2018) in the same region with twice the number of sampling sites collected 194 taxa in the same month as our samples. This underlines the potential for metabarcoding in evaluating species richness. Species richness was high across all habitats. A significant difference between the forest conditions was detected: The number of detected Diptera OTUs was lowest in disturbed habitats (55) and highest in salvaged areas (73). A permutational multivariate analysis of variance (PERMANOVA) indicated that habitat (i.e., intact, disturbed, salvaged) had an effect on the observed OTU distribution (9.2%), but that the stream catchment had a much larger effect (39.3%) regardless of the habitat. Our findings indicate that forest management can affect stream macroinvertebrate communities, and that this was most pronounced for the Diptera, a group for which DNA metabarcoding is particularly well suited because of their small size and high diversity.

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Quantifying the impact of environmental factors on the spatiotemporal structure of insect communities in a semi-arid Sabkha ecosystem

10.7287/peerj.preprints.741 ◽

2015 ◽

Author(s):

Haroun Chenchouni ◽

Taha Menasria ◽

Souad Neffar ◽

Smail Chafaa ◽

Liès Bradai ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Species Richness ◽

Vegetation Cover ◽

Shannon Index ◽

Trophic Groups ◽

Insect Community ◽

Insect Communities ◽

Vegetation Parameters ◽

Two Parameters ◽

The Impact ◽

Semi Arid

The current study highlights some knowledge on the diversity and structure of insect communities and trophic groups living in Sabkha Djendli (semi-arid area of Northeastern Algeria). The entomofauna was monthly sampled from March to November 2006 using pitfall traps at eight sites located at the vicinity of the Sabkha. Structural and diversity parameters (species richness, Shannon index, evenness) were measured for both insect orders and trophic guilds. The canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) was applied to determine how vegetation parameters (species richness and cover) influence spatial and seasonal fluctuations of insect assemblages. The catches totalled 434 insect individuals classified into 75 species, 62 genera, 31 families and 7 orders, where Coleoptera and Hymenoptera were the most abundant and constant over seasons and study stations. Spring and autumn presented the highest values of diversity parameters. Individual-based Chao-1 species richness estimator indicated 126 species for the total individuals captured in the Sabkha. Based on catch abundances, the structure of functional trophic groups was predators (37.3%), saprophages (26.7%), phytophages (20.5%), polyphages (10.8%), coprophages (4.6%); whereas in terms of numbers of species, they can be classified as phytophages (40%), predators (25.3%), polyphages (13.3%), saprophages (12%), coprophages (9.3%). The CCA demonstrated that phytophages and saprophages as well as Coleoptera and Orthoptera were positively correlated with the two parameters of vegetation, especially in spring and summer. While the abundance of coprophages was positively correlated with species richness of plants, polyphage density was positively associated with vegetation cover. The insect community showed high taxonomic and functional diversity that is closely related to diversity and vegetation cover in different site stations and seasons.

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Community completeness as a measure of restoration success: multiple-study comparisons across ecosystems and ecological groups

Biodiversity and Conservation ◽

10.1007/s10531-020-02050-1 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 29 (13) ◽

pp. 3807-3827

Author(s):

Norbertas Noreika ◽

Meelis Pärtel ◽

Erik Öckinger

Keyword(s):

Species Richness ◽

Plant Communities ◽

Northern Europe ◽

Ecological Groups ◽

Ecological Communities ◽

Habitat Types ◽

Insect Communities ◽

Multiple Study ◽

Flying Insects ◽

Restoration Success

Abstract When restoring habitat for biodiversity, the most effective outcome will be achieved by restoration projects which target several organism groups or ecosystem types. Such integrated approaches require direct comparisons among different ecological communities while evaluating success of restoration. The Community Completeness Index (CCI) is a recently developed metric that allows such comparisons by accounting for both present and absent but otherwise suitable taxa. We empirically evaluated the applicability of CCI for assessing the outcome of ecological restoration. We analyzed how species richness and the completeness of ecological communities recover after restoration, for different ecological groups and ecosystem types, and how it develops over time after restoration. Analyses were performed on 18 datasets with per site presence-absence data from Northern Europe. Each dataset represented one of the three habitat types (mire, forest, grassland) and different ecological groups (plants, flying insects, epigeic invertebrates). Datasets contained pristine, degraded and restored sites. We calculated the dark diversity and subsequently CCI based on species co-occurrences. Our multiple-study analyses revealed that CCI of grassland plant communities increased faster after restoration than invertebrate communities or plant communities in forests and mires. In addition, flying insect communities demonstrated significantly highest CCI in pristine mires. Some results were significant only for richness but not for CCI indicating species pool effect. Finally, completeness and species richness of restored communities increased with time since restoration. As such, our study demonstrated that CCI is a useful tool in evaluating restoration success across different organism groups and ecosystem types.

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The successional pathway of the tree community and how it shapes the fruit-feeding butterfly community in an Afrotropical forest

Journal of Tropical Ecology ◽

10.1017/s0266467416000560 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 33 (1) ◽

pp. 12-21 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Anu Valtonen ◽

Geoffrey M. Malinga ◽

Margaret Nyafwono ◽

Philip Nyeko ◽

Arthur Owiny ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Species Richness ◽

Community Composition ◽

Vegetation Structure ◽

Butterfly Species ◽

Secondary Forests ◽

Forest Age ◽

Insect Communities ◽

Tree Community ◽

Local Topography ◽

Butterfly Community

Abstract:The relative importance of different bottom-up-mediated effects in shaping insect communities in tropical secondary forests are poorly understood. Here, we explore the roles of vegetation structure, forest age, local topography (valley vs. hill top) and soil variables in predicting fruit-feeding butterfly and tree community composition, and tree community composition in predicting fruit-feeding butterfly community composition, in different-aged naturally regenerating and primary forests of Kibale National Park, Uganda. We also examine which variables are best predictors of fruit-feeding butterfly species richness or diversity. Butterflies (88 species) were sampled with a banana-baited trap and trees (98 taxa) with a 40 × 20-m sampling plot at 80 sampling sites. The environmental variables explained 31% of the variation in the tree community composition, the best predictors being local topography, forest age and cover of Acanthus pubescens (a shrub possibly arresting succession). The fruit-feeding butterfly community composition was better predicted by tree community composition (explaining 10% of the variation) rather than vegetation structure, local topography or soil factors. Environmental variables and tree species richness (or diversity) were poor predictors of butterfly species richness (or diversity). Our results emphasize the importance of tree community to recovery of herbivorous insect communities in tropical secondary forests.

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Quantifying the impact of environmental factors on the spatiotemporal structure of insect communities in a semi-arid Sabkha ecosystem

10.7287/peerj.preprints.741v2 ◽

2015 ◽

Author(s):

Haroun Chenchouni ◽

Taha Menasria ◽

Souad Neffar ◽

Smail Chafaa ◽

Liès Bradai ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Species Richness ◽

Vegetation Cover ◽

Shannon Index ◽

Trophic Groups ◽

Insect Community ◽

Insect Communities ◽

Vegetation Parameters ◽

Two Parameters ◽

The Impact ◽

Semi Arid

The current study highlights some knowledge on the diversity and structure of insect communities and trophic groups living in Sabkha Djendli (semi-arid area of Northeastern Algeria). The entomofauna was monthly sampled from March to November 2006 using pitfall traps at eight sites located at the vicinity of the Sabkha. Structural and diversity parameters (species richness, Shannon index, evenness) were measured for both insect orders and trophic guilds. The canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) was applied to determine how vegetation parameters (species richness and cover) influence spatial and seasonal fluctuations of insect assemblages. The catches totalled 434 insect individuals classified into 75 species, 62 genera, 31 families and 7 orders, where Coleoptera and Hymenoptera were the most abundant and constant over seasons and study stations. Spring and autumn presented the highest values of diversity parameters. Individual-based Chao-1 species richness estimator indicated 126 species for the total individuals captured in the Sabkha. Based on catch abundances, the structure of functional trophic groups was predators (37.3%), saprophages (26.7%), phytophages (20.5%), polyphages (10.8%), coprophages (4.6%); whereas in terms of numbers of species, they can be classified as phytophages (40%), predators (25.3%), polyphages (13.3%), saprophages (12%), coprophages (9.3%). The CCA demonstrated that phytophages and saprophages as well as Coleoptera and Orthoptera were positively correlated with the two parameters of vegetation, especially in spring and summer. While the abundance of coprophages was positively correlated with species richness of plants, polyphage density was positively associated with vegetation cover. The insect community showed high taxonomic and functional diversity that is closely related to diversity and vegetation cover in different site stations and seasons.

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Why species richness of plants and herbivorous insects do or do not correlate

10.1101/2020.04.29.067504 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Naoto Shinohara ◽

Takehito Yoshida

Keyword(s):

Species Richness ◽

Plant Species ◽

Insect Species ◽

Herbivorous Insect ◽

Insect Communities ◽

Total Plant ◽

Insect Species Richness ◽

Opposing Effects ◽

Generalist Insect ◽

Number Of Plant Species

AbstractUnraveling the determinants of herbivorous insect diversity has been a major challenge in ecology. Despite the strong association between insect and plant species, previous studies conducted in natural systems have shown great variation in the strength of the correlation between their species richness. Such variation can be attributed to the proportion of generalist insect species (generality), though both higher and lower generality may weaken the correlation because 1) generalist insect species are less dependent on the number of plant species and 2) specialist insect species utilize only a part of the total plant species. To explore these opposing effects, we studied plant and herbivorous insect communities in semi-natural grasslands in Japan. Plant–insect interactions were evaluated in a unique way with a particular focus on the staying and herbivory behaviors of insects, which reflect their habitat use as well as host use. We fousnd that generality of insect communities negatively affected the correlation between species richness of plants and insects. However, such negative effect was significant only when the insect species richness was related with the number of plant species interacted with some insect species, instead of with that of total plant species. The results suggest that considering either of the opposing effects of insect generality is insufficient and they should be inclusively interpreted to understand the relationship between plant and insect species richness.

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Insect Communities Associated with Siam Weed: Evaluation after Three Decades of Cecidochares connexa Release as Biocontrol Agent

Diversity ◽

10.3390/d12090344 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (9) ◽

pp. 344

Author(s):

Damayanti Buchori ◽

Akhmad Rizali ◽

Luna Lukvitasari ◽

Hermanu Triwidodo

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Species Richness ◽

Natural Enemies ◽

Negative Relationship ◽

Field Research ◽

Trophic Interaction ◽

Insect Communities ◽

Invasive Weed ◽

Land Use Types ◽

Geographical Regions

Chromolaena odorata is well known as an invasive weed, and its existence in agricultural habitats causes an undesirable effect on crop plants. The invasion of C. odorata alters local biodiversity and shapes the new trophic interaction with local herbivores and other insects. This research was conducted to study the insect communities associated with C. odorata and evaluate the success of the release of Cecidochares connexa, the natural enemy of C. odorata. Field research was conducted in two different geographical regions in Bogor Regency (Java) and South Lampung Regency (Sumatera), Indonesia. In each region, we selected five villages that have two land-use types (oil palm plantations and open area) and contain a high population of C. odorata. Observation of insects and natural enemies of C. odorata was conducted in each land-use type using two methods: suction sampling and gall collection, which were performed in 30 plants as sampling units. In total, we found 255 species of insects associated with C. odorata. The difference of region affected the abundance of insects but not their species richness. The species composition of insects showed difference between regions as well as between land-use types. There was a positive correlation between elevation and species richness of insects. In addition, the population of C. connexa (gall numbers) was significantly affected by regions and was found to be higher in Bogor and Lampung. The same pattern also was shown for its parasitoids (based on parasitized galls). We found a negative relationship between the number as well as parasitize galls and elevation. In conclusion, the presence of C. odorata, as well as its natural enemies, shape the new trophic interaction with local insects, and as consequence, its introduced natural enemies may not be effective to control the population of C. odorata.

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Effects of Cattle on the Abundance and Composition of Carabid Beetles in Temperate Grasslands

Journal of Agricultural Studies ◽

10.5296/jas.v3i1.6731 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 3 (1) ◽

pp. 36

Author(s):

Eleanor R. L. Bassett ◽

Lauchlan H Fraser

Keyword(s):

Species Richness ◽

Plant Biomass ◽

Cattle Grazing ◽

Carabid Beetles ◽

Plant Structure ◽

Site Productivity ◽

Insect Communities ◽

Species Richness And Diversity ◽

Natural Grasslands ◽

High Site

Grasslands are of vital importance to the ranching industry. Cattle grazing can alter the structure and composition of the plant community, and may indirectly affect insect communities. We investigated the effects of cattle grazing and site productivity on carabid beetle abundance, dried weight (biomass), species richness and diversity. We used pitfall traps to capture beetles in three sessions in 2008 in Lac Du Bois Provincial Park, British Columbia (B.C.), Canada. To test for main and interacting effects of elevation and grazing, carabid beetles were quantified by trap for abundance, dried weight (biomass), species richness and Shannon’s diversity. We found that elevation (a proxy of site productivity) was the most important predictor of carabid parameters, with lower elevation (low site productivity) having lower abundance, biomass, species richness and diversity compared to upper elevation (high site productivity). Although there was no main effect caused by grazing, there was a reduction in carabid biomass and diversity at grazed upper elevation sites compared to ungrazed upper elevation sites, suggesting that site productivity and plant structure affects carabid communities. Cattle management of natural grasslands benefits by considering biodiversity of all biota, including invertebrates. Carabid species diversity can be maximized by restricting grazing at high site productivity where plant biomass and litter is high.

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