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Variation in community structure of gall‐inducing insects associated with a tropical plant supports the hypothesis of competition in stressful habitats

Environmental factors act as drivers of species coexistence or competition. Mesic environments favor the action of parasites and predators on gall communities, while the factors that determine the structure of gall communities in xeric environments remain unknown. We evaluated the structure of gall...

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Autores principales: Ramos, Letícia F., Solar, Ricardo R. C., Santos, Henrique T., Fagundes, Marcilio
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6953684/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31938491
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.5827
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author Ramos, Letícia F.
Solar, Ricardo R. C.
Santos, Henrique T.
Fagundes, Marcilio
author_facet Ramos, Letícia F.
Solar, Ricardo R. C.
Santos, Henrique T.
Fagundes, Marcilio
author_sort Ramos, Letícia F.
collection PubMed
description Environmental factors act as drivers of species coexistence or competition. Mesic environments favor the action of parasites and predators on gall communities, while the factors that determine the structure of gall communities in xeric environments remain unknown. We evaluated the structure of gall communities along an environmental gradient defined by intrinsic plant characteristics, soil fertility, and aridity, and investigated the role of competition as a structuring force of gall communities in xeric environments. We created null models to compare observed and simulated patterns of co‐occurrence of galls and used the C‐score index to assess community aggregation or segregation. We used the NES C‐score (standardized C‐score) to compare patterns of co‐occurrence with parameters of environmental quality. Xeric environments had poorer and more arid soils and more sclerophyllous plants than mesic environments, which was reflected in the distribution patterns of gall communities. Values of the C‐score index revealed a segregated distribution of gall morphospecies in xeric environments, but a random distribution in mesic environments. The low availability of resources for oviposition and the high density of gallers in xeric environments reinforce interspecific competition as an important structuring force for gall communities in these environments.
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spelling pubmed-69536842020-01-14 Variation in community structure of gall‐inducing insects associated with a tropical plant supports the hypothesis of competition in stressful habitats Ramos, Letícia F. Solar, Ricardo R. C. Santos, Henrique T. Fagundes, Marcilio Ecol Evol Original Research Environmental factors act as drivers of species coexistence or competition. Mesic environments favor the action of parasites and predators on gall communities, while the factors that determine the structure of gall communities in xeric environments remain unknown. We evaluated the structure of gall communities along an environmental gradient defined by intrinsic plant characteristics, soil fertility, and aridity, and investigated the role of competition as a structuring force of gall communities in xeric environments. We created null models to compare observed and simulated patterns of co‐occurrence of galls and used the C‐score index to assess community aggregation or segregation. We used the NES C‐score (standardized C‐score) to compare patterns of co‐occurrence with parameters of environmental quality. Xeric environments had poorer and more arid soils and more sclerophyllous plants than mesic environments, which was reflected in the distribution patterns of gall communities. Values of the C‐score index revealed a segregated distribution of gall morphospecies in xeric environments, but a random distribution in mesic environments. The low availability of resources for oviposition and the high density of gallers in xeric environments reinforce interspecific competition as an important structuring force for gall communities in these environments. John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2019-11-22 /pmc/articles/PMC6953684/ /pubmed/31938491 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.5827 Text en © 2019 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
Ramos, Letícia F.
Solar, Ricardo R. C.
Santos, Henrique T.
Fagundes, Marcilio
Variation in community structure of gall‐inducing insects associated with a tropical plant supports the hypothesis of competition in stressful habitats
title Variation in community structure of gall‐inducing insects associated with a tropical plant supports the hypothesis of competition in stressful habitats
title_full Variation in community structure of gall‐inducing insects associated with a tropical plant supports the hypothesis of competition in stressful habitats
title_fullStr Variation in community structure of gall‐inducing insects associated with a tropical plant supports the hypothesis of competition in stressful habitats
title_full_unstemmed Variation in community structure of gall‐inducing insects associated with a tropical plant supports the hypothesis of competition in stressful habitats
title_short Variation in community structure of gall‐inducing insects associated with a tropical plant supports the hypothesis of competition in stressful habitats
title_sort variation in community structure of gall‐inducing insects associated with a tropical plant supports the hypothesis of competition in stressful habitats
topic Original Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6953684/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31938491
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.5827
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