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Effects of tree species diversity and genotypic diversity on leafminers and parasitoids in a tropical forest plantation
Author(s) -
AbdalaRoberts Luis,
GonzálezMoreno Alejandra,
Mooney Kailen A.,
Moreira Xoaquín,
GonzálezHernández Alejandro,
ParraTabla Víctor
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
agricultural and forest entomology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.755
H-Index - 55
eISSN - 1461-9563
pISSN - 1461-9555
DOI - 10.1111/afe.12132
Subject(s) - biology , species richness , parasitoid , species diversity , ecology , abundance (ecology) , generalist and specialist species , alpha diversity , interspecific competition , diversity index , monoculture , biodiversity , swietenia macrophylla , parasitism , host (biology) , botany , habitat
The effects of tree diversity on herbivore–enemy interactions have received relatively little attention and even fewer studies have compared the relative influence of tree intra‐ versus interspecific diversity on such dynamics. We evaluated the effects of mahogany ( Swietenia macrophylla ) genotypic diversity and tree species diversity on parasitoid attack and species richness associated with Phyllocnistis meliacella , a specialist herbivore on mahogany, in a forest diversity experiment consisting of 74 plots (21 × 21 m 2 ; 64 plants/plot). We sampled 34 of such plots classified as: mahogany monocultures of one maternal family (i.e. genotype), mahogany monocultures of four families and polycultures of four species (including mahogany). We surveyed leafminer abundance and collected mined leaves to estimate parasitism and parasitoid species richness. Leafminer abundance was not influenced by either type of diversity. Similarly, there were no effects of genotypic diversity or species diversity on parasitism or parasitoid species richness. Plant diversity effects on parasitoids were probably absent because the species attacking P. meliacella are dietary generalists that likely recruited to multiple host species (in addition to P. meliacella ) and their responses to diversity could have cancelled each other out. Future work should explicitly investigate how predator and parasitoid traits mediate the effects of plant diversity on tritrophic interactions.