Food web structure of the fungivorous insect community on bracket fungi in a Bornean tropical rain forest |
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Authors: | SATOSHI YAMASHITA KIYOSHI ANDO HIDETO HOSHINA NOBORU ITO YUJI KATAYAMA MAKOTO KAWANABE MUNETOSHI MARUYAMA TAKAO ITIOKA |
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Institution: | 1. Department of Forest Entomology, Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, Tsukuba, Japan;2. Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan;3. Faculty of Agriculture, Ehime University, Matsuyama, Japan;4. Faculty of Education and Regional Studies, University of Fukui, Fukui, Japan;5. Trend Tone Imaging, Inc., Hsinchu, Taiwan;6. , Kochi, Japan;7. The Research Institute for Nature and Society Co., Ltd., Hachioji, Japan;8. The Kyushu University Museum, Fukuoka, Japan;9. Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan |
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Abstract: | 1. If fungivorous insect diversity is maintained by host specialisation on particular fungi, it should be higher in the tropics than in temperate or boreal regions owing to high macrofungus species diversity. 2. To reveal the community and food web structure of fungivorous insects on bracket fungi, fungivorous insects were collected from 427 fruiting bodies belonging to 22 genera throughout the development and deterioration process in a 3‐ha plot of lowland dipterocarp tropical rain forest on Borneo Island. 3. Eight hundred and twenty‐nine individuals of 82 coleopteran species in 13 families from 111 fruiting bodies of 15 fungal genera were collected. Tenebrionidae and Staphylinidae were most common. Fifty‐three and 19 insect species were observed on Ganoderma and Phellinus, respectively. The numbers of insect species and individuals on a particular fungal genus were positively correlated with the abundance of that fungal genus. 4. Quantitative food web analysis revealed a high degree of specialisation at the whole‐community level. At least 65% of insect individuals were observed on Ganoderma at every stage of development and deterioration. Diverse insects coexist on one dominant fungal genus, Ganoderma, in contrast to our hypothesis. 5. The high abundance of Ganoderma fruiting bodies, which lack obvious defences against insect feeding, probably influences the bracket fungus–insect food web in this tropical rainforest. |
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Keywords: | Host specificity host‐associated community insect diversity macrofungi network analysis polypore specialisation Staphylinidae Tenebrionidae |
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