Seasonal variation in diet breadth of folivorous Lepidoptera in the Brazilian cerrado

Scherrer, Scheila; Lepesqueur, Cintia; Vieira, Marcos Costa; Almeida‐Neto, Mário; Dyer, Lee A.; Forister, M. L.; Diniz, Ivone Rezende

doi:10.1111/btp.12325

Cited by 28 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…Previous studies have shown that patterns of plant-herbivore interactions are infl uenced by seasonal climatic variation ( Scherrer et al, 2016 ), habitat structure and resource availability ( López-Carretero et al, 2014 ), habitat disturbance ( Tylianakis et al, 2007 ;Villa-Galavíz et al, 2012 ), and phylogenetic signals ( Cagnolo et al, 2011 ;Meskens et al, 2011 ). In this context, our study shows for the fi rst time that particular combinations of resistance traits can also infl uence the quantitative properties and trophic relevance of the species in the network (e.g., the species strength and selectiveness).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Factors infl uencing both food availability and resistance against herbivores such as seasonality ( Shure and Wilson, 1993 ;Coley, 1998 ;Forkner et al, 2004 ;Pearse and Hipp, 2012 ;Scherrer et al, 2016 ), habitat structure (which governs the eff ects of the microclimate or spatial distribution of the host plants) ( Nice and Fordyce, 2006 ;Stoepler and Lill, 2013 ) and the natural history of plants (i.e., life forms) ( Th ompson, 1988 ;Menge, 2003 ), are therefore likely to promote temporal and spatial variation in plant-herbivore network parameters. In this study, we investigated the infl uence of foliar resistance traits and plant cover on species-level parameters of plant-herbivore networks, specifi cally on plant species strength (i.e., how important a plant species is to a set of herbivores) and herbivore selectiveness (herbivore specialization).…”

Section: A M E R I C a N J O U R N A L O F B O T A N Y R E S E A R C mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Influence of plant resistance traits in selectiveness and species strength in a tropical plant‐herbivore network

López-Carretero

Boege

Díaz‐Castelazo

et al. 2016

American J of Botany

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PREMISE OF THE STUDY:Plant-herbivore networks are highly specialized in their interactions, yet they are highly variable with regard to the relative importance of specifi c host species for herbivores. How host species traits determine specialization and species strength in this antagonistic network is still an unanswered question that we addressed in this study. METHODS:We assessed plant cover and antiherbivore resistance traits to assess the extent to which they accounted for the variation in specialization and strength of interactions among species in a plant-herbivore network. We studied a tropical antagonistic network including a diverse herbivore-host plant assemblages in diff erent habitat types and climatic seasons, including host plants with diff erent life histories.KEY RESULTS: Particular combinations of leaf toughness, trichome density, and phenolic compounds infl uenced herbivore specialization and host species strength, but with a signifi cant spatiotemporal variation among plant life histories. Conversely, plant-herbivore network parameters were not infl uenced by plant cover. CONCLUSIONS:Our study highlights the importance of species-specifi c resistance traits of plants to understand the ecological and evolutionary consequences of plant-herbivore interaction networks. The novelty of our research lies in the use of a trait-based approach to understand the variation observed in diverse plant-herbivore networks.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: A M E R I C a N J O U R N A L O F B O T A N Y R E S E A R C mentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of plant resistance traits in selectiveness and species strength in a tropical plant‐herbivore network

López-Carretero

Boege

Díaz‐Castelazo

et al. 2016

American J of Botany

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“…The temporal turnover of interactions found in the treehopper community demonstrates that herbivorous insects have feeding strategies that reflect their adaptations to plants, and these patterns may vary in space and time (Scherrer et al, 2016). The variation in specialisation of species demonstrates that phenology may be a contributing factor to the structure of plant-treehopper networks, which tend to be more specialised in the reproductive than in the vegetative stage in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phenological phases of the host plant shape plant–treehopper interaction networks

Gadelha

Lange

Dáttilo

et al. 2017

Ecological Entomology

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Several studies have recently focused on the structural pattern of plant–insect interaction networks. However, insects and plants have dynamic cycles and differ in their level of specialisation over time, space, and scales. Thus, it is expected that sap‐sucking insects, such as treehoppers, and plants will not share similar patterns of interactions in all phenological stages of the plants. It was postulated that phenological stages of the host plant could change the structure of plant–treehopper networks, which will be more specialised during the reproductive stage than during the vegetative stage, mainly because of high concentrations of toxic compounds in the flowers. Here, quantitative metrics derived from graph theory were used to describe, for the first time, the changes in the structure of plant–treehopper interactions during the phenological stages of the host plants in Brazilian Atlantic Forest. The results revealed high temporal turnover of plant–treehopper interactions, and high similarity in the treehopper composition between the phenological stages. In both phenological stages, plant–treehopper networks exhibited a modular and non‐nested pattern. However, during the reproductive stage, the results showed lower species richness of plants and treehoppers, and higher levels of network specialisation compared with the vegetative phase. These findings demonstrate that the organisation of the same ecological interaction can change throughout plant phenology. In short, it was shown that the phenological phases of the host plants can constitute a remarkable mechanism that shapes plant–treehopper interaction networks in a tropical rainforest.

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“…For example, specialization, one of the most important concepts in multitrophic interactions , has been quantified, using network approaches, and compared across latitudinal gradients (Schleuning et al, 2012). However, two clear shortcomings of the network approach for community ecology and multitrophic interactions are: (1) appropriate temporal and spatial scales of interactions are not considered, thus we are left with 'metawebs' (Poisot et al, 2012) that do not actually exist in any one point in space or time (Scherrer et al, 2016), and (2) natural history is not sufficiently incorporated such that published webs do not accurately reflect actual interactions (Ballantyne et al, 2015) for example, a parasite visiting a flower is often counted as a pollinator when only visitation is used to characterize pollinator webs ( Figure 3).…”

Section: Future Promises and Challengesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Promises and challenges in insect–plant interactions

Giron

Dubreuil

Bennett

et al. 2018

Entomologia Exp Applicata

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There is tremendous diversity of interactions between plants and other species. These relationships range from antagonism to mutualism. Interactions of plants with members of their ecological community can lead to a profound metabolic reconfiguration of the plants' physiology. This reconfiguration can favour beneficial organisms and deter antagonists like pathogens or herbivores. Determining the cellular and molecular dialogue between plants, microbes, and insects, and its ecological and evolutionary implications is important for understanding the options for each partner to adopt an adaptive response to its biotic environment. Moving forward, understanding how such ecological interactions are shaped by environmental change and how we potentially mitigate deleterious effects will be increasingly important. The development of integrative multidisciplinary approaches may provide new solutions to the major ecological and societal issues ahead of us. The rapid evolution of technology provides valuable tools and opens up novel ways to test hypotheses that were previously unanswerable, but requires that scientists master these tools, understand potential ethical problems flowing from their implementation, and train new generations of biologists with diverse technical skills. Here, we provide brief perspectives and discuss future promise and challenges for research on insect-plant interactions building on the 16th International Symposium on Insect-Plant interactions (SIP) meeting that was held in Tours, France (2-6 July 2017). Talks, posters, and discussions are distilled into key research areas in insect-plant interactions, highlighting the current state of the field and major challenges, and future directions for both applied and basic research.

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Seasonal variation in diet breadth of folivorous Lepidoptera in the Brazilian cerrado

Cited by 28 publications

References 48 publications

Influence of plant resistance traits in selectiveness and species strength in a tropical plant‐herbivore network

Influence of plant resistance traits in selectiveness and species strength in a tropical plant‐herbivore network

Phenological phases of the host plant shape plant–treehopper interaction networks

Promises and challenges in insect–plant interactions

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