2004. Interspecific synchrony among foliage-feeding forest Lepidoptera species and the potential role of generalist predators as synchronizing agents. Á/ Oikos 107: 462 Á/470.While synchrony among geographically disjunct populations of the same species has received considerable recent attention, much less is known about synchrony between sympatric populations of two or more species. We analyzed time series of the abundance of ten species of spring foliage feeding Lepidoptera sampled over a 25-year period at 20 sites in the Slovak Republic. Six species were free-feeders and four were leaf-rollers as larvae. Twenty-nine percent of interspecific pairs were significantly synchronous and correlations were highest among species exhibiting similar feeding strategies. Similar patterns of interspecific synchrony have been previously demonstrated in several other taxa, and the synchronizing effects of weather and/or specialist predators have been proposed as mechanisms. As an alternative explanation, we explored a model in which two species within the same feeding guild were synchronized by the functional response of generalist predators. In this model, species remained unsynchronized in the complete absence of predation or when predatory pressures were applied to only one species. Pairs of prey species projecting relatively similar search images to predators were more highly synchronized than species with relatively different search images. Prey handling time only influenced synchrony when it was very high relative to the total time prey was exposed to predators. Our model's prediction of greater synchrony among species that project similar search images to predators was in agreement with our field study that showed greater synchrony among species sharing similar larval feeding strategies and morphologies.
Interspecific synchrony, that is, synchrony in population dynamics among sympatric populations of different species can arise via several possible mechanisms, including common environmental effects, direct interactions between species, and shared trophic interactions, so that distinguishing the relative importance of these causes can be challenging. In this study, to overcome this difficulty, we combine traditional correlation analysis with a novel framework of nonlinear time series analysis, empirical dynamic modeling (EDM).The EDM is an analytical framework to identify causal relationships and measure changing interaction strength from time series. We apply this approach to time series of sympatric foliage-feeding forest Lepidoptera species in the Slovak Republic and yearly mean temperature, precipitation and North Atlantic Oscillation Index. These Lepidoptera species include both free-feeding and leaf-roller larval life histories: the former are hypothesized to be more strongly affected by similar exogenous environments, while the latter are isolated from such pressures. Correlation analysis showed that interspecific synchrony is generally strongest between species within same feeding guild. In addition, the convergent cross mapping analysis detected causal effects of meteorological factors on most of the free-feeding species while such effects were not observed in the leaf-rolling species. However, there were fewer causal relationships among species. The multivariate S-map analysis showed that meteorological factors tend to affect similar free-feeding species that are synchronous with each other. These results indicate that shared meteorological factors are key drivers of interspecific synchrony among members of the free-feeding guild, but do not play the same role in synchronizing species within the leaf-roller guild. K E Y W O R D Sconvergent cross mapping, cross-correlation coefficient, empirical dynamic modeling, Moran effect, multivariate S-map
No abstract
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.