The Impact of Hairy Wood Ants, Formica lugubris, on the Guild Structure of Herbivorous Insects on Birch, Betula pubescens

10.2307/4382 ◽  
1985 ◽  
Vol 54 (3) ◽  
pp. 847 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. V. Fowler ◽  
M. Macgarvin
Keyword(s):  
Betula Pubescens ◽  
Herbivorous Insects ◽  
Guild Structure ◽  
Wood Ants ◽  
Formica Lugubris ◽  
The Impact

scholarly journals The impact of Sosnowsky’s Hogweed on feeding guilds of birds

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emilia Grzędzicka ◽  
Jiří Reif
Keyword(s):  
Negative Impact ◽  
Bird Community ◽  
Plant Invasions ◽  
Bird Communities ◽  
Feeding Guilds ◽  
Guild Structure ◽  
Feeding Guild ◽  
Potential Impact ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
The Impact

AbstractPlant invasions alter bird community composition worldwide, but the underlying mechanisms still require exploration. The investigation of feeding guild structure of bird communities can be informative in respect to the potential impact of invasion features on the availability of food for birds. For this purpose, we focused on determining the influence of the invasive Sosnowsky’s Hogweed Heracleum sosnowskyi on the abundance of birds from various feeding guilds. In spring and summer 2019, birds were counted three times on 52 pairs of sites (control + Heracleum) in southern Poland, at various stages of Sosnowsky’s Hogweed development (i.e. sprouting, full growth and flowering, all corresponding to respective bird counts). We have shown that the presence of invader negatively affected the abundance of birds from all feeding guilds. However, a closer examination of the invaded sites uncovered that responses of particular guilds differed in respect to development stages expressed by a set of characteristics of the invader. Ground and herb insectivores were more common on plots with a higher number of the invader, while the abundance of bush and tree insectivores was negatively correlated with hogweeds’ height. Granivores were not affected by the invader’s features, while the abundance of omnivores was negatively related to the number of flowering hogweeds. Besides showing the general negative impact of the invader on different feeding guilds, our research has shown that certain aspects of Sosnowsky’s Hogweed invasion may support or depress occurrence of different birds on invaded plots. Knowledge of these aspects may facilitate our capacity for coping with challenges the invasive plants put in front of bird conservationists.

Drought stress increases the expression of barley defence genes with negative consequences for infesting cereal aphids

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Leybourne ◽  
Tracy Valentine ◽  
Kirsty Binnie ◽  
Anna Taylor ◽  
Alison Jane Karley ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drought Stress ◽  
Aphid Species ◽  
Susceptible Variety ◽  
Aphid Resistance ◽  
Herbivorous Insects ◽  
Cereal Aphids ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Resistant Plant ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
The Impact

Crops are exposed to myriad abiotic and biotic stressors with negative consequences. Two stressors that are expected to increase under climate change are drought and infestation with herbivorous insects, including important aphid species. Expanding our understanding of the impact drought has on the plant-aphid relationship will become increasingly important under future climate scenarios. Here we use a previously characterised plant-aphid system comprising a susceptible variety of barley, a wild relative of barley with partial-aphid resistance, and the bird cherry-oat aphid to examine the drought-plant-aphid relationship. We show that drought has a negative effect on plant physiology and aphid fitness and provide evidence to suggest that plant resistance influences aphid responses to drought stress, with the expression of aphid detoxification genes increasing under drought when feeding on the susceptible plant but decreasing on the partially-resistant plant. Furthermore, we show that the expression of thionin genes, plant defensive compounds that contribute aphid resistance, increase ten-fold in susceptible plants exposed to drought stress but remain at constant levels in the partially-resistant plant, suggesting they play an important role in modulating aphid populations. This study highlights the role of plant defensive processes in mediating the interactions between the environment, plants, and herbivorous insects.

The distribution of wood-ants (Formica lugubris Zetterstedt) in a northern English forest

1977 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 301-313 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. H. SUDD ◽  
J. M. DOUGLAS ◽  
T. GAYNARD ◽  
D. M. MURRAY ◽  
J. M. STOCKDALE
Keyword(s):  
Wood Ants ◽  
Formica Lugubris

scholarly journals Wood ant assemblages of Formica rufa group on lake islands and in mainland woodland in Central Finland

2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jouni Sorvari
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Occurrence Probability ◽  
Island Size ◽  
Formica Rufa ◽  
Wood Ants ◽  
Formica Rufa Group ◽  
Species Area ◽  
Island Community ◽  
Species Area Relationship ◽  
Formica Lugubris

Associations of island size and isolation on the occurrence and species richness of five wood ant species of the Formica rufa group (F. rufa, F. aquilonia, F. lugubris, F. polyctena and F. pratensis) was tested in the Lake Konnevesi archipelago in Central Finland. In addition, the species composition was compared to that of mainland forests of the same region. Island isolation had no associations with the wood ant occurrence in this archipelago, but for most species, increasing island size was positively associated with the occurrence probability. According to the findings among the five species, Formica lugubris is the best adapted for insular living. There was a positive species–area relationship as the species richness of wood ants increased with an increasing island size. The island community of wood ants was dominated by colonies of the monogynous (single queen) species whereas the mainland community was dominated by those of polygynous (multiple queen) species.

scholarly journals The impact of herbivorous insect on leaves of mangrove species Rhizophora stylosa and its relation to leaf nutrient level

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
INDAH TRISNAWATI ◽  
MUKHAMMAD MURYONO ◽  
ISKA DESMAWATI
Keyword(s):  
Nutrient Loading ◽  
Leaf Age ◽  
Leaf Damage ◽  
Nutrient Level ◽  
Herbivorous Insects ◽  
Herbivorous Insect ◽  
Mangrove Species ◽  
Rhizophora Stylosa ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. Trisnawati I, Muryono M, Desmawati I. 2019. The impact of herbivorous insect on leaves of mangrove species Rhizophora stylosa and its relation to leaf nutrient level. Biodiversitas 20: 1409-1415. Intertidal mangrove ecosystem is a very unique ecosystem which is under threat due to anthropogenic disturbances like land conversion to promote paddy cultivation and aquaculture and pollution. Increased nutrient loading from human activities is expected to have stronger responses to both mangroves and their associated herbivores. This research is aimed to investigate vulnerability of mangroves caused by herbivory of herbivorous insects, focusing on the diversity and abundance of herbivorous insects, the level of mangrove leaf damage and its relation to nutrient levels within leaves in term of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and water content. We observed mangrove habitats located around Institut Teknologi Sepuluh November (ITS) Campus in Surabaya, East Java dominated by Rhizophora vegetation. Herbivorous insects showed individual abundance of 15.15% of the total insects found in mangroves around the studied areas. The area of relative leaf damage in Rhizophora stylosa leaves tended to be high in sapling habitus (11.96-24.56%) compared to tree habitus (6.97-16.71%). One way ANOVA showed non-significant difference in leaf area damaged between sapling and tree habitus (F = 0.099, p-0.75), and percentage of herbivory between saplings and trees (F = 0.0007, p-0.98). Concentrations of potassium (K) was significantly higher in tree than sapling habitus, whereas leaf nutrient phosporous was significantly higher in sapling than tree habitus. Other leaf nutrients (total nitrogen and water) were relatively the same in both habitus. However, saplings contained more feeding deterrent tannins than trees. Leaf age is thought to be related to higher leaf palatability and insect herbivore nutrition in younger leaves, represented by sapling habitus.

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