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Magnitud de la Especificidad de la Relación Insecto Fitófago‐Planta Hospedero y sus Implicaciones para la Estimación de la Riqueza Específica Global
Author(s) -
Ødegaard Frode,
Diserud Ola H.,
Engen Steinar,
Aagaard Kaare
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
conservation biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.2
H-Index - 222
eISSN - 1523-1739
pISSN - 0888-8892
DOI - 10.1046/j.1523-1739.2000.99393.x
Subject(s) - species richness , host (biology) , biology , range (aeronautics) , ecology , plant species , arthropod , composite material , materials science
Estimates of the global number of arthropod species range from 2 million to more than 30 million species. One of the most critical assumptions affecting the higher of these estimates is the assumed magnitude of host specificity of phytophagous insects, which varies considerably. Difficulties in estimating this value are caused by both lack of satisfactory data sets and lack of methods for its objective calculation. We provide a new method for predicting host specificity for phytophagous insects at a local scale based on the concept of effective specialization. When the insect‐plant host associations of a restricted number of plant species are known, we can predict the magnitude of host specificity when more plant species are included. Based on 2561 host observations of 697 beetle species on 50 plant species in the canopies of a tropical dry forest in Panama, we predict that host specificity for adult phytophagous beetles in this forest range from 7% to 10%. These values suggest that the higher estimates of global species richness are not tenable.