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Vertical canopy gradient shaping the stratification of leaf‐chewer–parasitoid interactions in a temperate forest

Knowledge about herbivores and their parasitoids in forest canopies remains limited, despite their diversity and ecological importance. Thus, it is important to understand the factors that shape the herbivore–parasitoid community structure, particularly the effect of vertical gradient. We investigat...

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Autores principales: Šigut, Martin, Šigutová, Hana, Šipoš, Jan, Pyszko, Petr, Kotásková, Nela, Drozd, Pavel
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6106176/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30151150
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.4194
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author Šigut, Martin
Šigutová, Hana
Šipoš, Jan
Pyszko, Petr
Kotásková, Nela
Drozd, Pavel
author_facet Šigut, Martin
Šigutová, Hana
Šipoš, Jan
Pyszko, Petr
Kotásková, Nela
Drozd, Pavel
author_sort Šigut, Martin
collection PubMed
description Knowledge about herbivores and their parasitoids in forest canopies remains limited, despite their diversity and ecological importance. Thus, it is important to understand the factors that shape the herbivore–parasitoid community structure, particularly the effect of vertical gradient. We investigated a quantitative community dataset of exposed and semiconcealed leaf‐chewing larvae and their parasitoids along a vertical canopy gradient in a temperate forest. We sampled target insects using an elevated work platform in a 0.2 ha broadleaf deciduous forest plot in the Czech Republic. We analyzed the effect of vertical position among three canopy levels (first [lowest], second [middle], and third [highest]) and tree species on community descriptors (density, diversity, and parasitism rate) and food web structure. We also analyzed vertical patterns in density and parasitism rate between exposed and semiconcealed hosts, and the vertical preference of the most abundant parasitoid taxa in relation to their host specificity. Tree species was an important determinant of all community descriptors and food web structure. Insect density and diversity varied with the vertical gradient, but was only significant for hosts. Both host guilds were most abundant in the second level, but only the density of exposed hosts declined in the third level. Parasitism rate decreased from the first to third level. The overall parasitism rate did not differ between guilds, but semiconcealed hosts suffered lower parasitism in the third level. Less host‐specific taxa (Ichneumonidae, Braconidae) operated more frequently lower in the canopy, whereas more host‐specific Tachinidae followed their host distribution. The most host‐specific Chalcidoidea preferred the third level. Vertical stratification of insect density, diversity, and parasitism rate was most pronounced in the tallest tree species. Therefore, our study contradicts the general paradigm of weak arthropod stratification in temperate forest canopies. However, in the network structure, vertical variation might be superseded by variation among tree species.
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spelling pubmed-61061762018-08-27 Vertical canopy gradient shaping the stratification of leaf‐chewer–parasitoid interactions in a temperate forest Šigut, Martin Šigutová, Hana Šipoš, Jan Pyszko, Petr Kotásková, Nela Drozd, Pavel Ecol Evol Original Research Knowledge about herbivores and their parasitoids in forest canopies remains limited, despite their diversity and ecological importance. Thus, it is important to understand the factors that shape the herbivore–parasitoid community structure, particularly the effect of vertical gradient. We investigated a quantitative community dataset of exposed and semiconcealed leaf‐chewing larvae and their parasitoids along a vertical canopy gradient in a temperate forest. We sampled target insects using an elevated work platform in a 0.2 ha broadleaf deciduous forest plot in the Czech Republic. We analyzed the effect of vertical position among three canopy levels (first [lowest], second [middle], and third [highest]) and tree species on community descriptors (density, diversity, and parasitism rate) and food web structure. We also analyzed vertical patterns in density and parasitism rate between exposed and semiconcealed hosts, and the vertical preference of the most abundant parasitoid taxa in relation to their host specificity. Tree species was an important determinant of all community descriptors and food web structure. Insect density and diversity varied with the vertical gradient, but was only significant for hosts. Both host guilds were most abundant in the second level, but only the density of exposed hosts declined in the third level. Parasitism rate decreased from the first to third level. The overall parasitism rate did not differ between guilds, but semiconcealed hosts suffered lower parasitism in the third level. Less host‐specific taxa (Ichneumonidae, Braconidae) operated more frequently lower in the canopy, whereas more host‐specific Tachinidae followed their host distribution. The most host‐specific Chalcidoidea preferred the third level. Vertical stratification of insect density, diversity, and parasitism rate was most pronounced in the tallest tree species. Therefore, our study contradicts the general paradigm of weak arthropod stratification in temperate forest canopies. However, in the network structure, vertical variation might be superseded by variation among tree species. John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2018-06-27 /pmc/articles/PMC6106176/ /pubmed/30151150 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.4194 Text en © 2018 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Original Research
Šigut, Martin
Šigutová, Hana
Šipoš, Jan
Pyszko, Petr
Kotásková, Nela
Drozd, Pavel
Vertical canopy gradient shaping the stratification of leaf‐chewer–parasitoid interactions in a temperate forest
title Vertical canopy gradient shaping the stratification of leaf‐chewer–parasitoid interactions in a temperate forest
title_full Vertical canopy gradient shaping the stratification of leaf‐chewer–parasitoid interactions in a temperate forest
title_fullStr Vertical canopy gradient shaping the stratification of leaf‐chewer–parasitoid interactions in a temperate forest
title_full_unstemmed Vertical canopy gradient shaping the stratification of leaf‐chewer–parasitoid interactions in a temperate forest
title_short Vertical canopy gradient shaping the stratification of leaf‐chewer–parasitoid interactions in a temperate forest
title_sort vertical canopy gradient shaping the stratification of leaf‐chewer–parasitoid interactions in a temperate forest
topic Original Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6106176/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30151150
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.4194
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