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The biogeography of herbivorous arthropods: species accrual on tropical crops
Author(s) -
McCOY EARL D.,
REY JORGE R.
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
ecological entomology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.865
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1365-2311
pISSN - 0307-6946
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2311.1983.tb00511.x
Subject(s) - biology , herbivore , amazon rainforest , host (biology) , tropics , ecology , range (aeronautics) , crop , biogeography , distribution (mathematics) , agroforestry , mathematical analysis , materials science , mathematics , composite material
.1 The size of range of host plants and animals has been shown repeatedly to be the best single correlate of number of associated parasite species. For a single species of host distributed over many regions, there should exist two important additional correlates: the sizes of source pools of potential colonists within regions and the distribution of the host's close relatives among regions. 2 Certain tropical crops are useful in examining these ideas because they are widely‐cultivated and the relevant data are available. A comparison of the data for the herbivorous arthropods of cacao, citrus, coconuts, coffee, cotton, rice and sugar cane shows that regions in Amazonia, Southern Asia/Australia and sub‐Saharan Africa consistently fall above species‐area regression lines, whereas regions in North and South America (except Amazonia), Western Asia and Europe tend to fall below them. 3 The pattern implicates the importance of source pool size of potential colonists and taxonomic isolation of the host in influencing arthropod accrual. 4 Cultivation methods, sampling effects and latitude conceivably could also influence accrual, but their importance is questionable for the seven crop/parasite systems examined.