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Elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide and ozone alter forest insect abundance and community composition
Author(s) -
HILLSTROM MICHAEL L.,
LINDROTH RICHARD L.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
insect conservation and diversity
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.061
H-Index - 39
eISSN - 1752-4598
pISSN - 1752-458X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1752-4598.2008.00031.x
Subject(s) - abundance (ecology) , ecology , herbivore , ecosystem , guild , species richness , biodiversity , carbon dioxide in earth's atmosphere , insect , biology , climate change , habitat
. 1 Human‐induced climate changes threaten the health of forest ecosystems. In particular, carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) and tropospheric ozone (O 3 ) will likely have significant but opposing impacts on forests and their associated insect communities. Compared with other animal groups, insect communities are expected to be especially sensitive to changes in global climate. 2 This study examined the effects of elevated CO 2 and O 3 (eCO 2 and eO 2 ) individually and in combination on the abundance, diversity and composition of forest insect communities. Insects were sampled using yellow pan traps in an aggrading aspen‐birch forest at the Aspen Free Air CO 2 Enrichment (FACE) site in northern Wisconsin, USA. We trapped for 24 h every 10–15 days throughout the summers (June to September) of 2000–2003. 3 We examined 47 415 insects from 4 orders and 83 families. Elevated CO 2 reduced abundance of phloem‐feeding herbivores and increased abundance of chewing herbivores, although results were not statistically significant. Enriched CO 2 increased numbers of some parasitoids. The effects of eO 3 on insect abundance were generally opposite those of eCO 2 . No significant differences in arthropod family richness were found among treatments. However, eCO 2 , eO 3 , or both significantly affected insect community composition in all years. 4 Carbon dioxide and tropospheric ozone have the potential to alter significantly forest insect communities. Feeding guild may strongly influence insect response to environmental change and may provide the best opportunity to generalise for conservation efforts. Because insect communities influence forest health and ecosystem services, continued research on their response to global change is critically important to forest management and conservation.