Zonal and Seasonal Distribution of Insects in North Carolina Salt Marshes

Davis, Luckett V.; Gray, Irving

doi:10.2307/1942419

Cited by 89 publications

(70 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…The salt marsh grasshoppers Orchelimum fidicinum and Paroxya clavuliger (hereafter referred to generically) are two of the major consumers of Spartina and Juncus, respectively (Davis and Gray 1966). In salt marshes, the majority of higher plant material enters the detrital food web (Teal 1962) and is decomposed primarily by ascomycetous fungi (Newell 1993).…”

Section: Consumersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of Fertilization on a Salt Marsh Food Web in Georgia

McFarlin

Brewer

Buck

et al. 2008

Estuaries and Coasts: J CERF

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We examined the response of a salt marsh food web to increases in nutrients at 19 coastal sites in Georgia. Fertilization increased the nitrogen content of the two dominant plants, Spartina alterniflora and Juncus roemerianus, indicating that added nutrients were available to and taken up by both species. Fertilization increased Spartina cover, height, and biomass and Juncus height, but led to decreases in Juncus cover and biomass. Fertilization increased abundances of herbivores (grasshoppers) and herbivore damage, but had little effect on decomposers (fungi), and no effect on detritivores (snails). In the laboratory, herbivores and detritivores did not show a feeding preference for fertilized versus control plants of either species, nor did detritivores grow more rapidly on fertilized versus control plants, suggesting that changes in herbivore abundance in the field were driven more by plant size or appearance than by plant nutritional quality.Community patterns in control plots varied predictably among sites (i.e., 17 of 20 regression models examining variation in biological variables across sites were significant), but variation in the effects of fertilization across sites could not be easily predicted (i.e., only 6 of 20 models were significant). Natural variation among sites was typically similar or greater than impacts of fertilization when both were assessed using the coefficient of variation. Overall, these results suggest that eutrophication of salt marshes is likely to have stronger impacts on plants and herbivores than on decomposers and detritivores, and that impacts at any particular site might be hard to distinguish from natural variation among sites.

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Section: Consumersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of Fertilization on a Salt Marsh Food Web in Georgia

McFarlin

Brewer

Buck

et al. 2008

Estuaries and Coasts: J CERF

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“…Our findings suggest that herbivore use of Spartina patens is not as extensive as that found in its native range, where this plant is fed on heavily by several hemipteran species (Davis and Gray 1966;Denno 1980). At our sites, it appears that mobile herbivores transit the Spartina zone, but apparently are not feeding extensively on this plant.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 47%

“…Most of the herbivorous insects associated with Spartina patens in its native habitat are host specific (Davis and Gray 1966;Denno 1977). However, there was no evidence that herbivorous insects at our study sites preferred S. patens over native C 3 plants or that S. patens was widely used as a source of food by these taxa, at least during a period of time prior to our sampling that would be reflected in the stable isotope values of these consumers.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 70%

“…A guild of herbivorous insects, primarily sap-feeding members of the Order Hemiptera is associated with living Spartina patens in its native habitat (Davis and Gray 1966;Raupp and Denno 1979;Denno 1980). These herbivores can attain high densities, tend to be plant host-specific, and support a food web that includes predaceous spiders and mirid bugs (Raupp and Denno 1979).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effects of non-native Spartina patens on plant and sediment organic matter carbon incorporation into the local invertebrate community

et al. 2010

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The cycling of organic matter through food webs is a fundamental process that may be altered by the invasion of non-indigenous plants. We explored consequences of the invasion of non-indigenous Spartina patens to the composition of soil organic matter (SOM) and to detritivore and herbivore diets in the upper salt marsh within Corrubedo National Park, northwest Spain. We tested for the incorporation of S. patens carbon (C) into SOM and by detritivores and herbivores using stable isotope analysis, focusing primarily on detritivorous enchytraeid oligochaetes and herbivorous insects. Stable isotope results indicated that C derived from S. patens has been incorporated into SOM. Elevated densities of enchytraeids in stands of S. patens, and their incorporation of C derived from this plant, suggested that dense patches of S. patens may facilitate detritivore populations. In contrast, although insect herbivores used S. patens as habitat, there was little isotopic evidence for the widespread incorporation of S. patens-derived C by these consumers. The population and dietary response of enchytraeids to S. patens suggests that S. patens invasion could indirectly influence soil processes and pathways mediated by detritivore activity (e.g., soil respiration rates, nutrient retention and transformation, energy flow). The loss of food resources to insect herbivores alters local food webs. However, insect herbivores may move and feed on native plants elsewhere. As a result, insect populations may be less immediately impacted than soil detritivore populations by S. patens. Our study suggests that the influences of S. patens invasion extend beyond the more obvious changes in native plant abundance, to include differing responses in the cycling of organic matter between detritivore and insect herbivore food web pathways.

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“…Davis and Gray (1966) also reported another ladybird beetle, Naemia serriata, from a salt marsh in North Carolina. The mass occurrences of C. septempunctata that we found are different from that in Delaware in which numerous dead and some living individuals were washed ashore following deposition in the ocean and association with seaweed wrack (Schaefer et al 1987).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 90%

Use of Eelgrass, <em>Zostera marina</em>, Wrack by Three Species of Ladybird Beetles (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) in Prince Edward Island

et al. 2004

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Large numbers of the introduced ladybird beetle, Coccinella septempunctata L., were present at Wood Islands and Green Point, Prince Edward Island, in wrack consisting primarily of Zostera marina L. (Eelgrass). The wrack occurred in a 0.5 to 1.0 m band parallel to the shore, and was from five to 25 cm thick. The other ladybirds, Propylea quatuordecimpunctata (L.), an introduced coccinellid also found in high numbers, and an individual of the native Hippodamia tredecimpunctata (Say) were found only at Wood Islands. At both sites the ladybird beetles occurred in the mid-intertidal zone along at least 100 m of shoreline, and were absent to rare on the terrestrial vegetation above the high tide mark. At four of the other eight sites surveyed, occasional individuals were present in the wrack, but they were no more abundant than could be observed on landward vegetation. Mean densities of C. septempunctata at the two primary sites were 52 m-2 (Green Point) and 410 m-2 (Wood Islands).

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Zonal and Seasonal Distribution of Insects in North Carolina Salt Marshes

Cited by 89 publications

References 16 publications

Impact of Fertilization on a Salt Marsh Food Web in Georgia

Impact of Fertilization on a Salt Marsh Food Web in Georgia

Effects of non-native Spartina patens on plant and sediment organic matter carbon incorporation into the local invertebrate community

Use of Eelgrass, <em>Zostera marina</em>, Wrack by Three Species of Ladybird Beetles (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) in Prince Edward Island

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