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Kirmse S. Structure and composition of a canopy-beetle community (Coleoptera) in a Neotropical lowland rainforest in southern Venezuela. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2024; 11:240478. [PMID: 39156661 PMCID: PMC11330560 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.240478] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2024] [Revised: 06/08/2024] [Accepted: 06/19/2024] [Indexed: 08/20/2024]
Abstract
Species richness, community structure and taxonomic composition are important characteristics of biodiversity. Beetle communities show distinct diversity patterns according to habitat attributes. Tropical rainforest canopies, which are well known for their richness in Coleoptera, represent such a conspicuous life zone. Here, I describe a canopy-inhabiting beetle community associated with 23 tree species in a Neotropical lowland rainforest. Adult beetles were sampled manually and in aerial traps using a large tower crane for a cumulative year. The sample revealed 6738 adult beetles, which were assigned to 862 (morpho-)species in 45 families. The most species-rich beetle families were Curculionidae (n = 246), Chrysomelidae (n = 121) and Cerambycidae (n = 89). The most abundant families were Curculionidae (n = 2746) and Chrysomelidae (n = 1409). Dominant beetle families were found in most assemblages. The beetle community consisted of 400 singletons (46.4%). A similar proportion was evident for assemblages of single tree species. I found that 74.5% of all beetle species were restricted in their occurrence on host trees to the phenological season and time of the day. This daily and seasonal migration causes patterns similar to mass effects and therefore accounts for the high proportion of singletons.
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Affiliation(s)
- Susan Kirmse
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC), Santa Cruz, CA, USA
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2
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Vázquez-González C, Castagneyrol B, Muiruri EW, Barbaro L, Abdala-Roberts L, Barsoum N, Fründ J, Glynn C, Jactel H, McShea WJ, Mereu S, Mooney KA, Morillas L, Nock CA, Paquette A, Parker JD, Parker WC, Roales J, Scherer-Lorenzen M, Schuldt A, Verheyen K, Weih M, Yang B, Koricheva J. Tree diversity enhances predation by birds but not by arthropods across climate gradients. Ecol Lett 2024; 27:e14427. [PMID: 38698677 DOI: 10.1111/ele.14427] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/06/2023] [Revised: 03/28/2024] [Accepted: 04/03/2024] [Indexed: 05/05/2024]
Abstract
Tree diversity can promote both predator abundance and diversity. However, whether this translates into increased predation and top-down control of herbivores across predator taxonomic groups and contrasting environmental conditions remains unresolved. We used a global network of tree diversity experiments (TreeDivNet) spread across three continents and three biomes to test the effects of tree species richness on predation across varying climatic conditions of temperature and precipitation. We recorded bird and arthropod predation attempts on plasticine caterpillars in monocultures and tree species mixtures. Both tree species richness and temperature increased predation by birds but not by arthropods. Furthermore, the effects of tree species richness on predation were consistent across the studied climatic gradient. Our findings provide evidence that tree diversity strengthens top-down control of insect herbivores by birds, underscoring the need to implement conservation strategies that safeguard tree diversity to sustain ecosystem services provided by natural enemies in forests.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carla Vázquez-González
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Irvine, Irvine, California, USA
- Misión Biológica de Galicia, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (MBG-CSIC), Pontevedra, España
| | | | - Evalyne W Muiruri
- Department of Biological Sciences, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, Surrey, UK
| | - Luc Barbaro
- Dynafor, INRAE-INPT, University of Toulouse, Castanet-Tolosan, France
| | - Luis Abdala-Roberts
- Departamento de Ecología Tropical, Campus de Ciencias Biológicas y Agropecuarias, Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán, Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico
| | - Nadia Barsoum
- Forest Research, Alice Holt Lodge, Farnham, Surrey, UK
| | - Jochen Fründ
- Biometry and Environmental System Analysis, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
- Animal Network Ecology, Department of Biology, Universität Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
- Nature Conservation and Landscape Ecology, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Carolyn Glynn
- Department of Crop Production Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Hervé Jactel
- BIOGECO, University of Bordeaux, INRAE, Bordeaux, France
| | - William J McShea
- Conservation Ecology Center, Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute 1500 Remount Road, Front Royal, Virginia, USA
| | - Simone Mereu
- Institute of BioEconomy, National Research Council of Italy, Sassari, Italy
| | - Kailen A Mooney
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Irvine, Irvine, California, USA
| | - Lourdes Morillas
- Department of Plant Biology and Ecology, University of Sevilla, C/ Professor García González s/n, Sevilla, Spain
| | - Charles A Nock
- College of Natural and Applied Sciences, Department of Renewable Resources, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
| | - Alain Paquette
- Center for Forest Research, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montréal, Canada
| | - John D Parker
- Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, Front Royal, Maryland, USA
| | - William C Parker
- Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada
| | - Javier Roales
- Departamento de Sistemas Físicos, Químicos y Naturales, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Ctra, Seville, Spain
| | | | - Andreas Schuldt
- Forest Nature Conservation, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Kris Verheyen
- Forest & Nature Lab, Department of Environment, Ghent University, Melle-Gontrode, Belgium
| | - Martin Weih
- Department of Crop Production Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Bo Yang
- Jiangxi Key Laboratory of Plant Resources and Biodiversity, Jingdezhen University, Jingdezhen, China
| | - Julia Koricheva
- Department of Biological Sciences, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, Surrey, UK
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Rosenberg Y, Bar-On YM, Fromm A, Ostikar M, Shoshany A, Giz O, Milo R. The global biomass and number of terrestrial arthropods. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2023; 9:eabq4049. [PMID: 36735788 PMCID: PMC9897674 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abq4049] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/06/2022] [Accepted: 01/03/2023] [Indexed: 06/01/2023]
Abstract
Insects and other arthropods are central to terrestrial ecosystems. However, data are lacking regarding their global population abundance. We synthesized thousands of evaluations from around 500 sites worldwide, estimating the absolute biomass and abundance of terrestrial arthropods across different taxa and habitats. We found that there are ≈1 × 1019 (twofold uncertainty range) soil arthropods on Earth, ≈95% of which are soil mites and springtails. The soil contains ≈200 (twofold uncertainty range) million metric tons (Mt) of dry biomass. Termites contribute ≈40% of the soil biomass, much more than ants at ≈10%. Our estimate for the global biomass of above-ground arthropods is more uncertain, highlighting a knowledge gap that future research should aim to close. We estimate the combined dry biomass of all terrestrial arthropods at ≈300 Mt (uncertainty range, 100 to 500), similar to the mass of humanity and its livestock. These estimates enhance the quantitative understanding of arthropods in terrestrial ecosystems and provide an initial holistic benchmark on their decline.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Amir Fromm
- Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
| | - Meital Ostikar
- Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
| | - Aviv Shoshany
- Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
| | - Omer Giz
- Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
| | - Ron Milo
- Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
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Wu W, Wang X, Zhao T, Zhang W, Fang S, Xu Y, Zhang K. Tropical-temperate comparisons in insect seed predation vary between study levels and years. Ecol Evol 2022; 12:e9256. [PMID: 36188509 PMCID: PMC9484303 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.9256] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/07/2022] [Revised: 07/28/2022] [Accepted: 08/05/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
The biotic interaction hypothesis, which states the species interaction becomes stronger in the tropics, is deeply rooted in classic ecological literature and widely accepted to contribute to the latitudinal gradients of biodiversity. Tests in latitudinal insect-plant interaction have emphasized leaf-eating insects on a single or a few plant species rather than within an entire community and mixed accumulating evidence, leaving the biotic interaction hypothesis disputed. We aimed to test the hypothesis by quantifying insect seed predation in a pair of tropical and temperate forest communities with similar elevations. We applied a consistent study design to sample predispersal seeds with systematically set seed traps in 2019-2020 and examined internally feeding insects. The intensity of seed predation was measured and further applied to tropical versus temperate comparison at two levels (cross-species and community-wide). Our results showed every latitudinal pattern associated with different study levels and years, that is, negative (greater granivory in the tropics in community-wide comparison in 2020), positive (less granivory in the tropics in community-wide and cross-species comparison in 2019), and missing (similar level of granivory in the tropics in cross-species comparisons in 2020). The cross-species level analyses ignore differences among species in seed production and weaken or even lose the latitudinal trend detected by community-wide comparisons. The between-year discrepancy in tropical-temperate comparisons relates to the highly variable annual seed composition in the temperate forest due to mast seeding of dominant species. Our study highlights that long-term community-level researches across biomes are essential to assess the latitudinal biotic interaction hypothesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wenlan Wu
- School of Life SciencesGuizhou Normal UniversityGuiyangChina
| | - Xiaoxue Wang
- School of Life SciencesGuizhou Normal UniversityGuiyangChina
| | - Tao Zhao
- School of Life SciencesGuizhou Normal UniversityGuiyangChina
| | - Wenfu Zhang
- Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical GardenChinese Academy of SciencesMenglaChina
| | - Shuai Fang
- Institute of Applied EcologyChinese Academy of SciencesShenyangChina
| | - Yu Xu
- School of Life SciencesGuizhou Normal UniversityGuiyangChina
| | - Kai Zhang
- School of Life SciencesGuizhou Normal UniversityGuiyangChina
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Szefer P, Molem K, Sau A, Novotny V. Weak effects of birds, bats, and ants on their arthropod prey on pioneering tropical forest gap vegetation. Ecology 2022; 103:e3690. [PMID: 35322403 DOI: 10.1002/ecy.3690] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/06/2021] [Revised: 12/18/2021] [Accepted: 01/18/2022] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Abstract
The relative roles of plants competing for resources versus top-down control of vegetation by herbivores, in turn impacted by predators, during early stages of tropical forest succession remain poorly understood. Here we examine the impact of insectivorous birds, bats and ants exclusion on arthropods communities on replicated 5x5 m of pioneering early successional vegetation plots in lowland tropical forest gaps in Papua New Guinea. In plots from which focal taxa of predators were excluded we observed increased biomass of herbivorous and predatory arthropods, and increased density, and decreased diversity of herbivorous insects. However, changes in the biomass of plants, herbivores and arthropod predators were positively correlated or uncorrelated between these three trophic levels and also between individual arthropod orders. Arthropod abundance and biomass correlated strongly with the plant biomass irrespective of the arthropods' trophic position - a signal of bottom-up control. Patterns in herbivore specialization confirm lack of a strong top-down control and were largely unaffected by the exclusion of insectivorous birds, bats and ants. No changes of plant-herbivore interaction networks were detected except for decrease in modularity of the exclosure plots. Our results suggest weak top-down control of herbivores, limited compensation between arthropod and vertebrate predators, and limited intra-guild predation by birds, bats and ants. Possible explanations are strong bottom-up control, a low activity of the higher order predators, especially birds, possibly also bats, in gaps, and continuous influx of herbivores from surrounding mature forest matrix.
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Affiliation(s)
- Piotr Szefer
- Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, Branišovská 1645/31a, České Budějovice, Czech Republic.,Biology Centre, Institute of Entomology, Czech Academy of Sciences, Branišovská 31, České Budějovice, Czech Republic
| | - Kenneth Molem
- New Guinea Binatang Research Centre, PO Box 604, Madang 511, Papua New Guinea
| | - Austin Sau
- New Guinea Binatang Research Centre, PO Box 604, Madang 511, Papua New Guinea
| | - Vojtech Novotny
- Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, Branišovská 1645/31a, České Budějovice, Czech Republic.,Biology Centre, Institute of Entomology, Czech Academy of Sciences, Branišovská 31, České Budějovice, Czech Republic
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Zhang P, Luan M, Li X, Lian Z, Zhao X. The distribution of soil fungal communities along an altitudinal gradient in an alpine meadow. Glob Ecol Conserv 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.gecco.2021.e01838] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022] Open
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Zumstein P, Bruelheide H, Fichtner A, Schuldt A, Staab M, Härdtle W, Zhou H, Assmann T. What shapes ground beetle assemblages in a tree species-rich subtropical forest? Zookeys 2021; 1044:907-927. [PMID: 34183896 PMCID: PMC8222196 DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.1044.63803] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2021] [Accepted: 04/08/2021] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
As woody plants provide much of the trophic basis for food webs in forests their species richness, but also stand age and numerous further variables such as vegetation structure, soil properties and elevation can shape assemblages of ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae). However, the combined impact of these numerous variables on ground beetle diversity and community structure has rarely been studied simultaneously. Therefore, ground beetles were studied in 27 plots in a highly diverse and structurally heterogeneous subtropical forest ecosystem, the Gutianshan National Park (southeast China) using pitfall traps and flight interception traps. Both trapping methods collected partly overlapping species spectra. The arboreal fauna was dominated by lebiines and to a smaller extent by tiger beetles and platynines; the epigeic fauna comprised mostly representatives of the genus Carabus and numerous tribes, especially anisodactylines, pterostichines, and sphodrines. Ground beetle species richness, abundance, and biomass of the pitfall trap catches were analyzed with generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs), fitted with seven environmental variables. Four of these variables influenced the ground beetle assemblages: Canopy cover, herb cover, pH-value of the topsoil and elevation. Contrary to our expectations, woody plant species richness and stand age did not significantly affect ground beetle assemblages. Thus, ground beetles seem to respond differently to environmental variables than ants and spiders, two other predominantly predatory arthropod groups that were studied on the same plots in our study area and which showed distinct relationships with woody plant richness. Our results highlight the need to study a wider range of taxa to achieve a better understanding of how environmental changes affect species assemblages and their functioning in forest ecosystems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pascale Zumstein
- Institute of Ecology, Leuphana University Lüneburg, Universitätsallee 1, 21335 Lüneburg, GermanyLeuphana UniversityLüneburgGermany
| | - Helge Bruelheide
- Institute of Biology/Geobotany, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, 06108 Halle (Saale), GermanyMartin Luther UniversityHalleGermany
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, 04103 Leipzig, GermanyGerman Centre for Integrative Biodiversity ResearchLeipzigGermany
| | - Andreas Fichtner
- Institute of Ecology, Leuphana University Lüneburg, Universitätsallee 1, 21335 Lüneburg, GermanyLeuphana UniversityLüneburgGermany
| | - Andreas Schuldt
- Forest Nature Conservation, Georg-August-University Göttingen, Büsgenweg 3, 37077 Göttingen, GermanyGeorg-August-UniversityGöttingenGermany
| | - Michael Staab
- Ecological Networks, Technical University Darmstadt, Schnittspahnstraße 3, 64287 Darmstadt, GermanyTechnical University DarmstadtDarmstadtGermany
| | - Werner Härdtle
- Institute of Ecology, Leuphana University Lüneburg, Universitätsallee 1, 21335 Lüneburg, GermanyLeuphana UniversityLüneburgGermany
| | - Hongzhang Zhou
- Key Laboratory of Zoological Systematics and Evolution, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1 Beichen West Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100101, ChinaKey Laboratory of Zoological Systematics and Evolution, Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijingChina
| | - Thorsten Assmann
- Institute of Ecology, Leuphana University Lüneburg, Universitätsallee 1, 21335 Lüneburg, GermanyLeuphana UniversityLüneburgGermany
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