昆嵛山腮扁叶蜂与林下植物的物种联结性

为明确昆嵛山腮扁叶蜂(Cephalcia kunyushanica)的出现与林下植物是否关联,本研究在昆嵛山林区设置的50块永久样地内,应用样圆法进行了灌草层植物调查,并基于2×2联表,应用总体方差分析、χ2统计检验、Ochiai关联度指数、Dice指数、联结系数、共同出现百分率、点相关系数以及Cramer指数等指标,分别对昆嵛山腮扁叶蜂与邻近环境中所有195种林下植物种群的总体相关性、该昆虫与各植物构成的物种对之间联结显著性以及联结强度进行了测度。结果表明:(1)昆嵛山腮扁叶蜂与195个植物物种种群总体存在极显著的正相关;(2)该食叶昆虫与83个物种分别构成的物种对呈正联结关系,与另外112个物种分别构成的物种对呈负联结关系,负联结的比例高于正联结;(3)该昆虫与羊胡子草(Carex rigescens)等11种植物具有极显著的正联结关系,与宽叶苔草(C.siderosticta)等16种植物具有极显著的负联结关系。     

赤松纯林林分特征对昆嵛山鳃扁叶蜂发生量的影响

为探讨昆嵛山鳃扁叶蜂的发生与天然赤松纯林的林分特征及其自然分布的关系,依托昆嵛山森林生态定位研究站所设立的40块永久性样地,比较了群落自然演替13 a的赤松种群特征以及林内灌草多样性指数,并分析了虫口密度与赤松林分特征的关系。结果表明,13 a自然生长,赤松种群的径级分布和高度结构出现显著变化。赤松种群中占总数60%的林木径级为5 cmDBH≤25 cm,比1996年高51%;而约占67%的赤松个体高度在2 m到10 m之间,比1996年高57%。同时种群密度从1996年的平均超过13000株/hm2降到了2008年的平均2377株/hm2。赤松林内灌草Shannon多样性指数(H)和均匀度指数(JS)分别为2.50和0.79,分别低于1996年的(H)2.69和(JS)0.85,暗示赤松纯林生物多样性有降低的趋势。昆嵛山鳃扁叶蜂的虫口密度与赤松林分的郁闭度和赤松分布的海拔高度呈极显著相关关系、相关系数分别为R=0.931、P=0.002和R=0.924、P=0.003;与林分密度(R=0.780,P=0.038)、林木胸径(R=0.816,P=0.025)呈显著相关关系,而与树高以及树龄关系不显著。昆嵛山鳃扁叶蜂虫口密度的分布格局似乎非常符合"资源集中"假说。     

Tree species composition rather than diversity triggers associational resistance to the pine processionary moth

The reduction of insect herbivory is one of the services provided by tree diversity in forest ecosystems. While it is increasingly acknowledged that the compositional characteristics of tree species assemblages play a major role in triggering associational resistance to herbivores, underlying mechanisms are less well known. We addressed this question in the ORPHEE experiment by assessing pine processionary moth infestations (Thaumetopoea pityocampa) across a tree diversity gradient from pine monocultures to five species mixtures. We showed that tree species richness per se had no effect on the probability of attack by this pest. By contrast, the infestation rate was strongly dependent on plot composition. Mixtures of pines (Pinus pinaster) and birches (Betula pendula) were less prone to T. pityocampa infestations, whereas mixtures of pines and oaks (Quercus spp.) were more often attacked than pine monocultures. By taking into account the relative height of pines and associated broadleaved species, this effect could be explained by pine apparency. Pines were on average 343 ± 5 cm height. Birches, as fast growing trees, were slightly taller than pines (363 ± 6 cm), while oak trees were significantly smaller (74 ± 1 cm). Host trees of T. pityocampa were then partly hidden in mixtures of pines and birches but more apparent in mixtures with oaks. We suggest that reduced pine apparency disrupted visual cues used by female moths to select host trees prior to oviposition. This study highlights the need to take into account tree traits such as growth rate when selecting the tree species that have to be associated in order to improve forest resistance to pest insects.     

Safe sites for tree regeneration in wooded pastures: A case of associational resistance?

Abstract. Question: Are tree saplings in wooded pastures spatially associated with specific nurse structures or plants that facilitate tree sapling survival? Location: Wooded pastures in the Jura Mountains, Switzerland. Methods: In two sites, 73 km apart, we sampled 294 plots of 4 m², systematically distributed on 1 ha. We recorded number and height of all established Picea abies saplings (> 1 a of age and up to 40 cm in height), and visually estimated cover of rocks, shrubs, tree stumps, overhanging tree branches and unpalatable plant species. Results: Despite differences in site characteristics, we found overall positive effects of cover of unpalatable plants, rocky outcrops and tree stumps on the density of Picea saplings. Plots with tree stumps and higher cover of rocky outcrops and unpalatable plants were more likely to contain Picea saplings. Conclusions: Unpalatable plants, rocky outcrops and tree stumps seem to form safe sites for Picea saplings in this grazed system, improving their establishment and survival. Our findings support the idea that associational resistance drives the dynamics of wooded pastures, but experimental evidence for this hypothesis is still required.     

A case for associational resistance: Apparent support for the stress gradient hypothesis varies with study system

According to the stress gradient hypothesis (SGH), ecological interactions between organisms shift positively as environmental stress increases. In the case of associational resistance, habitat is modified to ameliorate stress, benefitting other organisms. The SGH is contentious due to conflicting evidence and theoretical perspectives, so we adopted a meta-analytic approach to determine if it is widely supported across a variety of contexts, including different kingdoms, ecosystems, habitats, interactions, stressors, and life history stages. We developed an extensive list of Boolean search criteria to search the published ecological literature and successfully detect studies that both directly tested the hypothesis, and those that were relevant but never mentioned it. We found that the SGH is well supported by studies that feature bacteria, plants, terrestrial ecosystems, interspecific negative interactions, adults, survival instead of growth or reproduction, and drought, fire, and nutrient stress. We conclude that the SGH is indeed a broadly relevant ecological hypothesis that is currently held back by cross-disciplinary communication barriers. More SGH research is needed beyond the scope of interspecific plant competition, and more SGH research should feature multifactor stress. There remains a need to account for positive interactions in scientific pursuits, such as associational resistance in tests of the SGH.     

Strong but opposing effects of associational resistance and susceptibility on defense phenotype in an African savanna plant

The susceptibility of plants to herbivores can be strongly influenced by the identity, morphology and palatability of neighboring plants. While the defensive traits of neighbors often determine the mechanism and strength of associational resistance and susceptibility, the effect of neighbors on plant defense phenotype remains poorly understood. We used field surveys and a prickle‐removal experiment in a semi‐arid Kenyan savanna to evaluate the efficacy of physical defenses against large mammalian herbivores in a common understory plant, Solanum campylacanthum. We then quantified the respective effects of spinescent Acacia trees and short‐statured grasses on browsing damage and prickle density in S. campylacanthum. We paired measurements of prickle density beneath and outside tree canopies with long‐term herbivore‐exclusion experiments to evaluate whether associational resistance reduced defense investment by decreasing browsing damage. Likewise, we compared defense phenotype within and outside pre‐existing and experimentally created clearings to determine whether grass neighbors increased defense investment via associational susceptibility. Removing prickles increased the frequency of browsing by ~25%, and surveys of herbivory damage on defended leaves suggested that herbivores tended to avoid prickles. As predicted, associational resistance and susceptibility had opposing effects on plant phenotype: individuals growing beneath Acacia canopies (or, analogously, within large‐herbivore exclosures) had a significantly lower proportion of their leaves browsed and produced ~ 70–80% fewer prickles than those outside refuges, whereas plants in grass‐dominated clearings were more heavily browsed and produced nearly twice as many prickles as plants outside clearings. Our results demonstrate that associational resistance and susceptibility have strong, but opposing, effects on plant defense phenotype, and that variable herbivore damage is a major source of intraspecific variation in defense phenotype in this system.     

Anthrax: a motor protein determines anthrax susceptibility.

A new study has found that polymorphisms in the host gene kif1C, which encodes a kinesin-like motor protein, determine whether mouse macrophages are resistant or sensitive to anthrax lethal toxin. These findings may lead the way to discovering how both germ and host factors might contribute to a lethal infection.     

Habitat selection determines abundance, richness and species composition of beetles in aquatic communities

Distribution and abundance patterns at the community and metacommunity scale can result from two distinct mechanisms. Random dispersal followed by non-random, site-specific mortality (species sorting) is the dominant paradigm in community ecology, while habitat selection provides an alternative, largely unexplored, mechanism with different demographic consequences. Rather than differential mortality, habitat selection involves redistribution of individuals among habitat patches based on perceived rather than realized fitness, with perceptions driven by past selection. In particular, habitat preferences based on species composition can create distinct patterns of positive and negative covariance among species, generating more complex linkages among communities than with random dispersal models. In our experiments, the mere presence of predatory fishes, in the absence of any mortality, reduced abundance and species richness of aquatic beetles by up to 80% in comparison with the results from fishless controls. Beetle species' shared habitat preferences generated distinct patterns of species richness, species composition and total abundance, matching large-scale field patterns previously ascribed to random dispersal and differential mortality. Our results indicate that landscape-level patterns of distribution and species diversity can be driven to a large extent by habitat selection behaviour, a critical, but largely overlooked, mechanism of community and metacommunity assembly.     

Spatial associations among palatable and unpalatable macroalgae: A test of associational resistance with a herbivorous amphipod

Associational resistance is the process by which plants may gain protection from spatial associations with neighbouring plants. We tested whether association with an unpalatable alga, Dictyopteris acrostichoides, affects the abundance and colonisation behaviour of the herbivorous amphipod Peramphithoe parmerong on its preferred host alga Sargassum linearifolium. Despite predictions, natural densities on S. linearifolium when surrounded by D. acrostichoides were higher than on isolated individuals of S. linearifolium. Colonisation experiments in the laboratory and the field tested the hypotheses that the observed variation in field abundance with algal neighbourhood was due to variation in the size of habitat patches, physical obstruction of host finding by D. acrostichoides and variation in the relative abundance of S. linearifolium and D. acrostichoides. None of these possible mechanisms was found to significantly alter rates of amphipod colonisation on the scales of individuals selecting among algal pieces in the laboratory or among habitat patches in the field. The failure of colonisation processes to explain observed variation in natural amphipod densities suggests that post-colonisation processes such as survival or emigration may vary with the spatial associations among algae.     

Two sibling species of the spruce web-spinning sawfly Cephalcia fallenii (Hymenoptera: Pamphiliidae) in Europe

The spruce web-spinning sawfly Cephalcia fallenii is considered to be a minor pest defoliating spruces ( Picea spp.) in Europe and northern Asia, and is characterized by a high degree of morphological polymorphism throughout its wide range. A sudden increase in population density observed in Central and southern Europe since 1976, strictly related to the dieback of large areas of spruce forests, made it possible to compare a large number of insects from different sites. The study was performed by combining field observations on epidemics and biological traits with analyses of allozymic, karyological and morphological characters. Two sibling species occurring together in all the study sites were identified by a diagnostic allozyme at the glucose phosphate isomerase (GPI) locus, karyotype differences, emergence times and the colour pattern of adults (light and dark). As the light form matches well with the lectotype of Lyda annulicornis , here designated, this species is redescribed on the basis of a large number of specimens. A new synonymy for the remaining taxa is proposed. Karyotype differences between the two siblings are substantial ( C. fallenii , n = 18, 17M + 1A; C. annulicornis , n = 26, 13M + 13A), suggesting that chromosome rearrangements played a role in the speciation process.