Tree growth indicates resource quality for foliage-feeding insects: Pattern and structure of herbivore diversity in response to productivity |
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| Institution: | 1. School of Natural Resources and Environment, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, United States;2. School of Forest Resources and Conservation, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, United States;1. Laboratory of Environmental Technology, Institute of Technological Research, University of Santiago de Compostela, Bloque A, Campus Universitario Sur, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain;2. Department of Geography, University of Santiago de Compostela, Faculty of Geography and History, Praza da Universidade, 1, 15703, Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain;3. Department of Geography, Faculty of Architecture, Urbanism and Geography, University of Concepcion, Box 160-C, Concepción, Chile;4. Department of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA;5. Department of Geography and Regional Planning, University of Zaragoza, c/Pedro Cerbuna s/n, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain;6. Department of Geography, Prehistory and Archaeology, University of the Basque Country, UPV/EHU, c/Tomás y Valiente s/n, 01006 Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain;1. Department of Animal Ecology, Research Centre for BioSystems, Land Use and Nutrition (iFZ), Justus Liebig University Giessen, 35392 Giessen, Germany;2. Professorship of Ecological Services, University of Bayreuth, 95440 Bayreuth, Germany;3. Department of Ecology, Philipps-University, 35043 Marburg, Germany;4. Institute for Landscape Ecology and Resources Management, Research Centre for BioSystems, Land Use and Nutrition (iFZ), Justus Liebig University Giessen, 35392 Giessen, Germany;5. Centre for International Development and Environmental Research (ZEU), Justus Liebig University Giessen, 35392 Giessen, Germany;1. Departamento de Ecologia, Universidade Federal de Goiás, 74001-970 Goiânia, GO, Brazil;2. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia e Evolução, Universidade Federal de Goiás, 74001-970 Goiânia, GO, Brazil;3. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia de Ambientes Aquáticos Continentais, Universidade Estadual de Maringá, 87020-900 Maringá, PR, Brazil;4. Finnish Environment Institute, Biodiversity, PO Box 413, FIN-90014, University of Oulu, Finland |
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| Abstract: | In forests, local site conditions can affect both trees and herbivores and hence site-related factors act indirectly on herbivores mediated by tree growth rates. Here, tree foliage represents a fundamental prerequisite for insect herbivore development providing energy in the form of plant tissue quality. Resource-based theories, on the other hand, assume that the synthesis of defensive compounds is a trade-off with growth and peaks at low resource availability. However, the extent to which plant tissue quality in response to site productivity is relevant in the species-energy relationship is unknown. Therefore, we aimed at a better understanding of the form and structure of the species-energy relationship in forest insects. We used census data of foliage-feeding insects along a productivity gradient of Scots pine forests defined by relative growth rates of trees (RGR). As a result, diversity monotonically increases with decreasing RGR (as a proxy for energy) during almost two decades of sampling. Herbivore assemblages become more similar with available energy as species turnover linearly decreases and proportions of sites occupied by individual species rise. The results suggest that tree growth rate influences herbivore dynamics in this system by altering the chemical composition of needles, without necessarily affecting the form in the relationship. The site-specific resource availability requires trees to adjust their allocation to synthesis of carbon-based secondary metabolites or growth, which then results in fundamental differences in herbivore dynamics at low vs. lowest RGR (regular cycles (dominance) vs. dampened cycles (evenness)). However, these differences inevitably demonstrate that species richness is not necessarily a result of more individuals and implicate that different mechanisms are involved (facilitation vs. competition/temporal heterogeneity). The resulting pattern and structure of foliage-feeding insects advance our understanding of herbivore dynamics in response to site quality and tree growth, which may ultimately improve our knowledge of plant-insect interactions in the face of environmental change. |
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| Keywords: | Biodiversity patterns Community assembly Environmental change Plant-herbivore interactions Species-energy relationship Species turnover |
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