Gall-Insect Species Richness in African Fynbos and Karoo Vegetation: The Importance of Plant Species Richness

1996 ◽  
Vol 3 (4/5) ◽  
pp. 151 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark G. Wright ◽  
Michael J. Samways
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Plant Species ◽  
Plant Species Richness ◽  
Insect Species ◽  
Insect Species Richness ◽  
Gall Insect

scholarly journals Superhost Plants Alter the Structure of Plant–Galling Insect Networks in Neotropical Savannas

Plants ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (10) ◽  
pp. 369 ◽  
Author(s):  
Araújo ◽  
Moreira ◽  
Falcão ◽  
Borges ◽  
Fagundes ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Plant Species ◽  
Plant Diversity ◽  
Host Plants ◽  
Plant Species Richness ◽  
Variable Number ◽  
Insect Species ◽  
Species Number ◽  
Neotropical Savannas ◽  
Galling Insects

Host plants may harbor a variable number of galling insect species, with some species being able to harbor a high diversity of these insects, being therefore called superhost plants. In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that the occurrence of superhost plant species of genus Qualea (Vochysiaceae) affects the structure of plant–galling insect ecological networks in Brazilian Cerrado. We sampled a total of 1882 plants grouped in 131 species and 43 families, of which 64 species and 31 families of host plants hosted 112 galling insect species. Our results showed that occurrence of superhosts of genus Qualea increased the linkage density of plant species, number of observed interactions, and the size of plant–galling insect networks and negatively affected the network connectance (but had no effect on the residual connectance). Although the occurrence of Qualea species did not affect the plant species richness, these superhosts increased the species richness and the number of interactions of galling insects. Our study represents a step forward in relation to previous studies that investigated the effects of plant diversity on the plant–insect networks, showing that few superhost plant species alter the structure of plant–herbivore networks, even without having a significant effect on plant diversity.

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

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.

scholarly journals Plant diversity accurately predicts insect diversity in two tropical landscapes

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kai Zhang ◽  
Siliang Lin ◽  
Yinqiu Ji ◽  
Chenxue Yang ◽  
Xiaoyang Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Plant Species ◽  
Plant Diversity ◽  
Forest Degradation ◽  
Plant Species Richness ◽  
Insect Community ◽  
Arthropod Species ◽  
Tropical Landscapes ◽  
Highly Correlated ◽  
Insect Species Richness

AbstractPlant diversity surely determines arthropod diversity, but only moderate correlations between arthropod and plant species richness had been observed until Basset et al. (2012, Science 338: 1481-1484) finally undertook an unprecedentedly comprehensive sampling of a tropical forest and demonstrated that plant species richness could indeed accurately predict arthropod species richness. We now require a high-throughput pipeline to operationalize this result so that we can (1) test competing explanations for tropical arthropod megadiversity, (2) improve estimates of global eukaryotic species diversity, and (3) use plant and arthropod communities as efficient proxies for each other, thus improving the efficiency of conservation planning and of detecting forest degradation and recovery. We therefore applied metabarcoding to Malaise-trap samples across two tropical landscapes in China. We demonstrate that plant species richness can accurately predict arthropod (mostly insect) species richness and that plant and insect community compositions are highly correlated, even in landscapes that are large, heterogeneous, and anthropogenically modified. Finally, we review how metabarcoding makes feasible highly replicated tests of the major competing explanations for tropical megadiversity.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document