Plant diversity accurately predicts insect diversity in two tropical landscapes

Abstract

Plant 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 Malaisetrap 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.3

Spatiotemporal and demographic variation in the diet of New Zealand lesser short‐tailed bats (Mystacina tuberculata)

“…Conversely, Pureora is comprised of several tree species, and individuals from Pureora have a smaller home range compared to Eglinton, suggesting a higher prey abundance and/or diversity (Toth, Cummings, Dennis, & Parsons, 2015). In other parts of the world, there is a positive relationship between and plant and insect diversity (Zhang et al., 2016). …”

“…Eglinton, suggesting a higher prey abundance and/or diversity (Toth, Cummings, Dennis, & Parsons, 2015). In other parts of the world, there is a positive relationship between and plant and insect diversity (Zhang et al, 2016).…”

“…For aerial insectivores, foraging costs are negatively correlated with T a (Humphries & Careau, 2011; Klüg‐Baerwald, Gower, Lausen, & Brigham, 2016). Insect diversity also correlates with many factors including plant diversity and latitude (Rohde, 1992; Zhang et al., 2016). Therefore, individuals of the same species that inhabit different habitats are likely to differ in energetic expenditure and/or intake (Dunbar & Brigham, 2010).…”

A tale of scale: Plot but not neighbourhood tree diversity increases leaf litter ant diversity

“…Other BEF studies showed that the diversity of herbivorous arthropods (in particular dietary specialists) on trees is usually positively related to tree diversity, often via increased resource heterogeneity when larger and more diverse food resources increase herbivore diversity with effects transcending to predators (Scherber et al, 2010;Zhang et al, 2016). However, this association is less clear for leaf litter ants that are not dependent on the litter of particular tree species (Donoso et al, 2010) and have a broad range of dietary niches.…”

Vertebrate diversity revealed by metabarcoding of bulk arthropod samples from tropical forests

“…For this, DNA metabarcoding approaches are the most frequently applied. Metabarcoding of bulk insect samples has, for example, been used to characterize the diversity of insects in montane landscapes in tropical southern China (Zhang et al, 2016), explore the insect diversity in a Saharo-Arabian region with otherwise sparse fauna information (Ashfaq et al, 2018), and monitor temporal changes in arthropod communities in different forest types (Brandon-Mong et al, 2018). Unique identifiers are added to sample amplicons before they are sequenced in parallel on a high-throughput sequencing platform.…”