An Experimental Study of the Structure of Herbivorous Insect Communities in a Salt Marsh

Ecology ◽  
1981 ◽  
Vol 62 (6) ◽  
pp. 1662-1678 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan W. Vince ◽  
Ivan Valiela ◽  
John M. Teal
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Study ◽  
Salt Marsh ◽  
Herbivorous Insect ◽  
Insect Communities

Population Variability and Polyphagy in Herbivorous Insect Communities

1988 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Redfearn ◽  
Stuart L. Pimm
Keyword(s):  
Population Variability ◽  
Herbivorous Insect ◽  
Insect Communities

An experimental study of the pollination biology of the perennial halophyte Frankenia pauciflora var. gunnii (Frankeniaceae) in a South Australian salt marsh

2009 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Duncan A. Mackay ◽  
Molly A. Whalen
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Study ◽  
Salt Marsh ◽  
Plant Species ◽  
Breeding System ◽  
Seed Weight ◽  
Pollen Limitation ◽  
South Australia ◽  
Pollination Biology ◽  
Breeding Systems

Relatively little is known about the pollination biology or breeding systems of entomophilous plant species in salt-marsh habitats. In the present study, the pollination biology of the perennial halophyte Frankenia pauciflora DC. var. gunnii Summerh. (Frankeniaceae) was investigated in a salt marsh near Goolwa, South Australia. The flowering peak of this species occurs in summer and flowers are visited by a diverse array of insects in the Diptera, Hymenoptera and Lepidoptera. An experiment was performed to test for the presence of pollen limitation in the field. Flowers to which outcross pollen was added produced significantly more fruits and significantly more seeds per fruit than did unmanipulated control flowers. Average seed weight per fruit did not differ significantly between control and pollen-addition flowers. In glasshouse experiments, flowers to which cross-pollen was added produced significantly more fruit than did flowers to which self-pollen was added, suggesting the presence of a facultatively xenogamous breeding system.

scholarly journals Why species richness of plants and herbivorous insects do or do not correlate

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naoto Shinohara ◽  
Takehito Yoshida
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Plant Species ◽  
Insect Species ◽  
Herbivorous Insect ◽  
Insect Communities ◽  
Total Plant ◽  
Insect Species Richness ◽  
Opposing Effects ◽  
Generalist Insect ◽  
Number Of Plant Species

AbstractUnraveling the determinants of herbivorous insect diversity has been a major challenge in ecology. Despite the strong association between insect and plant species, previous studies conducted in natural systems have shown great variation in the strength of the correlation between their species richness. Such variation can be attributed to the proportion of generalist insect species (generality), though both higher and lower generality may weaken the correlation because 1) generalist insect species are less dependent on the number of plant species and 2) specialist insect species utilize only a part of the total plant species. To explore these opposing effects, we studied plant and herbivorous insect communities in semi-natural grasslands in Japan. Plant–insect interactions were evaluated in a unique way with a particular focus on the staying and herbivory behaviors of insects, which reflect their habitat use as well as host use. We fousnd that generality of insect communities negatively affected the correlation between species richness of plants and insects. However, such negative effect was significant only when the insect species richness was related with the number of plant species interacted with some insect species, instead of with that of total plant species. The results suggest that considering either of the opposing effects of insect generality is insufficient and they should be inclusively interpreted to understand the relationship between plant and insect species richness.

Cross-scale effects of land use on the functional composition of herbivorous insect communities

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (8) ◽  
pp. 2001-2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felix Neff ◽  
Nico Blüthgen ◽  
Melanie N. Chisté ◽  
Nadja K. Simons ◽  
Juliane Steckel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Scale Effects ◽  
Herbivorous Insect ◽  
Functional Composition ◽  
Insect Communities ◽  
Effects Of Land Use
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