Structure of two macrolepidopteran assemblages on Salix nigra (Marsh) and Acer negundo L.: abundance, diversity, richness, and persistence of scarce species

Abstract

Summary 1. Most insect species occur at low abundance but a greater research effort has been devoted to so‐called outbreak species and little research is available on scarce (low abundance) species that are typical of most insect species. 2. Larval free‐feeding macrolepidoptera of two riparian trees Salix nigra (Marsh) (black willow) and Acer negundo L. (box elder) were sampled and sorted by species and abundance. 3. Data collected established that the majority of species in the assemblages in each tree species occurred at low abundance in each of the 5 years when larvae were sampled. 4. Species in the Noctuidae and Geometridae dominated both assemblages. 5. On both trees, assemblages were dominated numerically by relatively few species, a pattern that has been observed for insect assemblages on plants in managed and unmanaged habitats.

How do frequent fires in the Cerrado alter the lepidopteran community?

“…Our three studied parcels revealed a community of caterpillars with high species richness, low number, and low frequency on the host plant. These results confirmed the pattern found for tropical herbivore insects associated with host plants Barbosa et al 2000;Novotny and Basset 2000). The fact that an asymptotic curve was not reached may be a result of insufficient sampling, which is very common in systems of plant/herbivore insects (Lewinsohn et al 2005).…”

“…Immature Lepidoptera are the main defoliators of any natural or cultivated terrestrial ecosystem in temperate and tropical regions (Barbosa 1993). The Cerrado of Brasilia possesses a diverse array of lepidopterans.…”

Prospección de lepidópteros antófagos asociados a Acacia macracantha Willd. (Fabaceae) en el norte de Chile

“…En ambas localidades más del 80% de la abundancia fue explicada por sólo dos especies, mientras que la mayoría de las especies alcanzaron bajos niveles de abundancia dentro del ensamble. Al respecto, Barbosa et al (2000) indicaron que la dominancia de ensambles de herbívoros por parte de relativamente pocas especies puede ser una característica común para varios hábitats.…”

Which factors explain lepidopteran larvae variance in seasonal guilds on some oaks?

“…and Fraxinus sp., and also among other tree genera in Finnish forests (Neuvonen, Niemelä 1981, 1983. In North America Barbosa et al (2000) compared caterpillar faunas from Salix nigra and Acer negundo and confirmed a high proportion of caterpillars were host species specific. However, argues that the degree to which species diversity found on any particular host tree varies due to random chance is unknown.…”