Caterpillar assemblages on Chusquea bamboos in southern Ecuador: abundance, guild structure, and the influence of host plant quality

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F60076658%3A12310%2F16%3A43891106" target="_blank" >RIV/60076658:12310/16:43891106 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/een.12345/abstract;jsessionid=F4664FED421C2470A59EF4AE2462BBD5.f03t03" target="_blank" >http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/een.12345/abstract;jsessionid=F4664FED421C2470A59EF4AE2462BBD5.f03t03</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/een.12345" target="_blank" >10.1111/een.12345</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Caterpillar assemblages on Chusquea bamboos in southern Ecuador: abundance, guild structure, and the influence of host plant quality

Original language description

1. Information on the guild structure of foliage-associated tropical insects is scarce, especially as caterpillars are mostly considered only as herbivores feeding on living leaves. However, many caterpillar species display alternative trophic associations, feeding on dead or withered leaves or epiphylls ('non-herbivores'). 2. To determine the contribution of these non-herbivores, caterpillar communities associated with Chusquea Kunth (Poaceae) in the Andes of southern Ecuador were investigated. Caterpillars were collected at two elevation levels (montane rainforest similar to 2000 m and elfin forest at similar to 3000 m a.s.l.) and assigned to three feeding guilds (strict herbivores, non-herbivores, and switchers) based on feeding trials. Foliage quality and leaf area were recorded to test for their influence on guild composition and caterpillar density. 3. Three hundred and eighty-nine individuals belonging to 175 Lepidoptera species associated with Chusquea bamboos were found. The species richness of caterpillars was similarly high at both elevation levels but varied between feeding guilds. Approximately half (46.5%) displayed an alternative feeding association, i.e. were non-herbivores (31.1%) or switchers (15.4%). 4. Caterpillar density was nearly two-fold higher in the elfin forest, but only strict herbivores and switchers increased significantly with elevation. Leaf area positively influenced the density of strict herbivores and switchers; foliage quality only affected strict herbivores. The density of non-herbivores did not differ significantly between the forest types and was not related to leaf area or foliage quality. 5. The present study underpins that non-herbivores make up a considerable fraction of caterpillar communities in tropical mountain ecosystems and demonstrates that elevation, foliage quality and available plant biomass further shape feeding guild composition.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

J_x - Unclassified - Peer-reviewed scientific article (Jimp, Jsc and Jost)

CEP classification

EH - Ecology - communities

OECD FORD branch

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Project

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Continuities

S - Specificky vyzkum na vysokych skolach<br>I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year

2016

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Ecological Entomology

ISSN

0307-6946

e-ISSN

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Volume of the periodical

41

Issue of the periodical within the volume

6

Country of publishing house

US - UNITED STATES

Number of pages

9

Pages from-to

698-706

UT code for WoS article

000388585300007

EID of the result in the Scopus database

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