Seasonality affects specialisation of a temperate forest herbivore community
The result's identifiers
Result code in IS VaVaI
<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F60076658%3A12310%2F21%3A43902955" target="_blank" >RIV/60076658:12310/21:43902955 - isvavai.cz</a>
Alternative codes found
RIV/60077344:_____/21:00543416
Result on the web
<a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/oik.08265" target="_blank" >https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/oik.08265</a>
DOI - Digital Object Identifier
<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/oik.08265" target="_blank" >10.1111/oik.08265</a>
Alternative languages
Result language
angličtina
Original language name
Seasonality affects specialisation of a temperate forest herbivore community
Original language description
Understanding spatiotemporal trends on insect-plant interaction networks is essential to unveil the ecological and evolutionary processes driving herbivore specialisation. However, community studies accounting for temporal dynamics in host-plant specialisation of herbivorous insects are surprisingly scarce. Here, we investigated how seasonality affects specialisation of a temperate forest herbivore community. A substantial body of literature suggests that young plant foliage tends to be more protected by defence mechanisms effective against generalist insect herbivores than mature leaves. We thus hypothesised that herbivore specialisation would be highest in the early season, when young leaves are available, and that the degree of dietary specialisation would decline with leaf maturation. To test this hypothesis, we sampled more than 4700 folivorous caterpillars associated with 16 tree species within a 0.2 ha deciduous forest stand in eastern North America. We further examined the dietary specialisation of exposed feeders versus shelter builders (e.g. leaf rollers, leaf tiers, webbers). Contrary to our prediction, we observed a significantly less specialised herbivore fauna in the early season than in the two subsequent summer seasons. We further found that the seasonal increase in specialisation was driven by a remarkable turnover in species composition rather than by shifts in guild structure or intraspecific changes in diet breadth of the herbivores. These findings run counter to the widespread belief that young leaves are less susceptible to generalist insect herbivores. Our study underscores the need to account for temporal dynamics when contrasting herbivore specialisation among sites with pronounced seasonality.
Czech name
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Czech description
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Classification
Type
J<sub>imp</sub> - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database
CEP classification
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OECD FORD branch
10618 - Ecology
Result continuities
Project
Result was created during the realization of more than one project. More information in the Projects tab.
Continuities
I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace
Others
Publication year
2021
Confidentiality
S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů
Data specific for result type
Name of the periodical
Oikos
ISSN
0030-1299
e-ISSN
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Volume of the periodical
130
Issue of the periodical within the volume
9
Country of publishing house
US - UNITED STATES
Number of pages
12
Pages from-to
1450-1461
UT code for WoS article
000661594100001
EID of the result in the Scopus database
2-s2.0-85107854399