Low beta diversity of herbivorous insects in tropical forests

Recent advances in understanding insect communities in tropical forests have contributed little to our knowledge of large-scale patterns of insect diversity, because incomplete taxonomic knowledge of many tropical species hinders the mapping of their distribution records. This impedes an understanding of global biodiversity patterns and explains why tropical insects are under-represented in conservation biology. Our study of approximately 500 species from three herbivorous guilds feeding on foliage (caterpillars, Lepidoptera), wood (ambrosia beetles, Coleoptera) and fruit (fruitflies, Diptera) found a low rate of change in species composition (beta diversity) across 75,000 square kilometres of contiguous lowland rainforest in Papua New Guinea, as most species were widely distributed. For caterpillars feeding on large plant genera, most species fed on multiple host species, so that even locally restricted plant species did not support endemic herbivores. Large plant genera represented a continuously distributed resource easily colonized by moths and butterflies over hundreds of kilometres. Low beta diversity was also documented in groups with differing host specificity (fruitflies and ambrosia beetles), suggesting that dispersal limitation does not have a substantial role in shaping the distribution of insect species in New Guinea lowland rainforests. Similar patterns of low beta diversity can be expected in other tropical lowland rainforests, as they are typically situated in the extensive low basins of major tropical rivers similar to the Sepik-Ramu region of New Guinea studied here.     

Positive interactions among alpine plants increase with stress

Plants can have positive effects on each other. For example, the accumulation of nutrients, provision of shade, amelioration of disturbance, or protection from herbivores by some species can enhance the performance of neighbouring species. Thus the notion that the distributions and abundances of plant species are independent of other species may be inadequate as a theoretical underpinning for understanding species coexistence and diversity. But there have been no large-scale experiments designed to examine the generality of positive interactions in plant communities and their importance relative to competition. Here we show that the biomass, growth and reproduction of alpine plant species are higher when other plants are nearby. In an experiment conducted in subalpine and alpine plant communities with 115 species in 11 different mountain ranges, we find that competition generally, but not exclusively, dominates interactions at lower elevations where conditions are less physically stressful. In contrast, at high elevations where abiotic stress is high the interactions among plants are predominantly positive. Furthermore, across all high and low sites positive interactions are more important at sites with low temperatures in the early summer, but competition prevails at warmer sites.     

Host specificity of Lepidoptera in tropical and temperate forests

For numerous taxa, species richness is much higher in tropical than in temperate zone habitats. A major challenge in community ecology and evolutionary biogeography is to reveal the mechanisms underlying these differences. For herbivorous insects, one such mechanism leading to an increased number of species in a given locale could be increased ecological specialization, resulting in a greater proportion of insect species occupying narrow niches within a community. We tested this hypothesis by comparing host specialization in larval Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies) at eight different New World forest sites ranging in latitude from 15 degrees S to 55 degrees N. Here we show that larval diets of tropical Lepidoptera are more specialized than those of their temperate forest counterparts: tropical species on average feed on fewer plant species, genera and families than do temperate caterpillars. This result holds true whether calculated per lepidopteran family or for a caterpillar assemblage as a whole. As a result, there is greater turnover in caterpillar species composition (greater beta diversity) between tree species in tropical faunas than in temperate faunas. We suggest that greater specialization in tropical faunas is the result of differences in trophic interactions; for example, there are more distinct plant secondary chemical profiles from one tree species to the next in tropical forests than in temperate forests as well as more diverse and chronic pressures from natural enemy communities.     

Soil pathogens and spatial patterns of seedling mortality in a temperate tree

The Janzen-Connell hypothesis proposes that host-specific, distance- and/or density-dependent predators and herbivores maintain high tree diversity in tropical forests. Negative feedback between plant and soil communities could be a more effective mechanism promoting species coexistence because soil pathogens can increase rapidly in the presence of their host, causing conditions unfavourable for local conspecific recruitment. Here we show that a soil pathogen leads to patterns of seedling mortality in a temperate tree (Prunus serotina) as predicted by the Janzen-Connell hypothesis. In the field, the mean distance to parent of seedling cohorts shifted away from maternal trees over a period of 3 years. Seedlings were grown in soil collected 0-5 m or 25-30 m from Prunus trees. Sterilization of soil collected beneath trees improved seedling survival relative to unsterilized soil, whereas sterilization of distant soil did not affect survival. Pythium spp., isolated from roots of dying seedlings and used to inoculate healthy seedlings, decreased survival by 65% relative to controls. Our results provide the most complete evidence that native pathogens influence tree distributions, as predicted by the Janzen-Connell hypothesis, and suggest that similar ecological mechanisms operate in tropical and temperate forests.     

黑龙江省东部山区森林生物多样性研究

研究了黑龙江东部山区森林生态系统的物种组成和生物多样性．调查结果表明：森林植物群落物种丰富度指数和多样性指数大小依次为：草本层＞乔木层＞灌木层；森林昆虫群落的物种多样性指数大小依次为：植食性昆虫＞捕食性昆虫＞寄生性昆虫，群落均匀度的变化不明显。     

General patterns of taxonomic and biomass partitioning in extant and fossil plant communities

A central goal of evolutionary ecology is to identify the general features maintaining the diversity of species assemblages. Understanding the taxonomic and ecological characteristics of ecological communities provides a means to develop and test theories about the processes that regulate species coexistence and diversity. Here, using data from woody plant communities from different biogeographic regions, continents and geologic time periods, we show that the number of higher taxa is a general power-function of species richness that is significantly different from randomized assemblages. In general, we find that local communities are characterized by fewer higher taxa than would be expected by chance. The degree of taxonomic diversity is influenced by modes of dispersal and potential biotic interactions. Further, changes in local diversity are accompanied by regular changes in the partitioning of community biomass between taxa that are also described by a power function. Our results indicate that local and regional processes have consistently regulated community diversity and biomass partitioning for millions of years.     

Global environmental controls of diversity in large herbivores

Large mammalian herbivores occupy half of the earth's land surface and are important both ecologically and economically, but their diversity is threatened by human activities. We investigated how the diversity of large herbivores changes across gradients of global precipitation and soil fertility. Here we show that more plant-available moisture reduces the nutrient content of plants but increases productivity, whereas more plant-available nutrients increase both of these factors. Because larger herbivore species tolerate lower plant nutrient content but require greater plant abundance, the highest potential herbivore diversity should occur in locations with intermediate moisture and high nutrients. These areas are dry enough to yield high quality plants and support smaller herbivores, but productive enough to support larger herbivores. These predictions fit with observed patterns of body size and diversity for large mammalian herbivores in North America, Africa and Australia, and yield a global map of regions with potentially high herbivore diversity. Thus, gradients of precipitation, temperature and soil fertility might explain the global distribution of large herbivore diversity and help to identify crucial areas for conservation and restoration.     

Experimental evidence for apparent competition in a tropical forest food web

The herbivorous insects of tropical forests constitute some of the most diverse communities of living organisms. For this reason it has been difficult to discover the degree to which these communities are structured, and by what processes. Interspecific competition for resources does occur, but its contemporary importance is limited because most pairs of potentially competing insects feed on different host plants. An alternative way in which species can interact is through shared natural enemies, a process called apparent competition. Despite extensive theoretical discussion there are few field demonstrations of apparent competition, and none in hyper-diverse tropical communities. Here, we experimentally removed two species of herbivore from a community of leaf-mining insects in a tropical forest. We predicted that other species that share natural enemies with the two removed species would experience lower parasitism and have higher population densities in treatment compared with control sites. In both cases (on removal of a dipteran and a coleopteran leaf-miner species) we found significantly lower parasitism, and in one case (removal of the dipteran) we found significantly higher abundance a year after the manipulation. Our results suggest that apparent competition may be important in structuring tropical insect communities.     

辽宁铁岭莲花湖湿地植物群落研究

铁岭莲花湖湿地中生长着大量的自然群落和人工种植群落,它们都对莲花湖湿地的生态环境有着重要的影响作用。通过对辽宁铁岭莲花湖湿地的36个样方进行了湿地植物资源和植物群落的调查研究,进行了群落分类,并在BioDiversityPro等软件的支持下,进行了物种多样性分析。结果表明：铁岭莲花湖湿地共有12种植物群落类型,其中陆生植物群落8种,水生植物群落4种。植物物种多样性在辽河大堤上自然群落中最大,在水中的人工群落中最小,自然群落在大堤上生长最为集中。对莲花湖湿地的生物多样性保护提出了对策建议,为今后莲花湖及类似湿地的研究提供了基础资料。     

Drought sensitivity shapes species distribution patterns in tropical forests

Although patterns of tree species distributions along environmental gradients have been amply documented in tropical forests, mechanisms causing these patterns are seldom known. Efforts to evaluate proposed mechanisms have been hampered by a lack of comparative data on species' reactions to relevant axes of environmental variation. Here we show that differential drought sensitivity shapes plant distributions in tropical forests at both regional and local scales. Our analyses are based on experimental field assessments of drought sensitivity of 48 species of trees and shrubs, and on their local and regional distributions within a network of 122 inventory sites spanning a rainfall gradient across the Isthmus of Panama. Our results suggest that niche differentiation with respect to soil water availability is a direct determinant of both local- and regional-scale distributions of tropical trees. Changes in soil moisture availability caused by global climate change and forest fragmentation are therefore likely to alter tropical species distributions, community composition and diversity.     

太和县桔梗田主要昆虫群落动态变化初步研究

2013年4月至8月在桔梗生长期分5次对太和桔梗田昆虫的种群数量动态进行了系统调查,并利用物种丰富度、优势度指数、多样性指数和均匀度等分析了昆虫群落动态变化.结果显示植食性害虫主要有金针虫类、蛴螬类、地老虎类、蚜虫类、蝗虫类等;捕食性昆虫主要有食蚜蝇类、蜘蛛类以及草蛉类等.群落的总个体数和丰富度随调查时间有一定的变化,4、5、6月份的物种丰富度及均匀度指数相对较高,优势度指数相对较大的是7、8月份.其中植食性昆虫与总的昆虫分析结果相近,捕食性昆虫略有差异.昆虫的总个体数随时间序列呈上升趋势,昆虫物种丰富度随着调查时间呈下降之势.总体来说相邻日期之间群落相似性更大,并呈越来越远的趋势.     

Diversity of Plant Species of Alpine Grassland in Nakchu of Tibet, China

0Introduction Biologicaldiversityconcernedwiththesumofvariouslivingbeingsandtheirprocesses,aswellasthebasisofharmonious coexistencebetweenmanandnatureplaysanimportantroleinecology,economy,esthetics,ethics,etc.Duetodeteriorationofglobal environment,acceler…     

Host plants influence parasitism of forest caterpillars

Patterns of association between herbivores and host plants have been thought to reflect the quality of plants as food resources as influenced by plant nutrient composition, defences, and phenology. Host-plant-specific enemies, that is, the third trophic level, might also influence the distribution of herbivores across plant species. However, studies of the evolution of herbivore host range have generally not examined the third trophic level, leaving unclear the importance of this factor in the evolution of plant-insect herbivore interactions. Analysis of parasitoid rearings by the Canadian Forest Insect Survey shows that parasitism of particular Lepidoptera species is strongly host-plant-dependent, that the pattern of host-plant dependence varies among species of caterpillars, and that some parasitoid species are themselves specialized with respect to tree species. Host-plant-dependent parasitism suggests the possibility of top-down influence on host plant use. Differences in parasitism among particular caterpillar-host plant combinations could select for specialization of host plant ranges within caterpillar communities. Such specialization would ultimately promote the species diversification of Lepidoptera in temperate forests with respect to escape from enemies.     

环境因子对滇西北地区植物多样性分布格局的影响

利用一元回归分析和偏回归分析,探讨了滇西北地区温、热带植物的分布格局及其控制因素.结果表明,温带植物多样性的高值主要出现在研究区域北部,而热带植物多样性则未呈现明显的纬度趋势.热带植物比重高值主要出现在研究区域南部,而温带植物比重高值主要出现在北部.生境异质性对温带植物多样性的解释率明显高于对热带植物多样性的解释率.这意味着,生境异质性对多样性格局的影响力可能在一定程度上取决于植物的生物地理分布区性质.气候因子对温、热带植物比重的解释率明显高于对温、热植物多样性的解释率.相比气候因子与温、热带植物多样性的关系,气候因子与温、热带植物比重之间关系可能更能反映滇西北地区温、热带植物的生态位保守性.     

Predator diversity dampens trophic cascades

Food web complexity is thought to weaken the strength of terrestrial trophic cascades in which strong impacts of natural enemies on herbivores cascade to influence primary production indirectly. Predator diversity can enhance food web complexity because predators may feed on each other and on shared prey. In such cases, theory suggests that the impact of predation on herbivores relaxes and cascading effects on basal resources are dampened. Despite this view, no empirical studies have explicitly investigated the role of predator diversity in mediating primary productivity in a natural terrestrial system. Here we compare, in a coastal marsh community, impacts of arthropod predators on herbivores and plant productivity between a simple food web with a single predator species and a complex food web with a diverse predator assemblage. We show that enhancing predator diversity dampens enemy effects on herbivores and weakens trophic cascades. Consequently, changes in diversity at higher trophic levels can significantly alter ecosystem function in natural systems.     

Jasmonate and salicylate induce expression of herbivore cytochrome P450 genes

Jasmonate and salicylate are plant-produced signals that activate plant defence genes after herbivory or pathogen attack. Amplification of these signals, evoked by either enemy attack or experimental manipulation, leads to an increase in the synthesis of toxic compounds (allelochemicals) and defence proteins in the plants. Although the jasmonate and salicylate signal cascades activate different sets of plant defence genes, or even act antagonistically, there is substantial communication between the pathways. Jasmonate and salicylate also contribute to protecting plants against herbivores by causing plants that experience insect damage to increase their production of volatile molecules that attract natural enemies of herbivorous insects. In response to plant defences, herbivores increase their production of enzymes that detoxify allelochemicals, including cytochrome P450s (refs 15, 16). But herbivores are potentially vulnerable to toxic allelochemicals in the duration between ingesting toxins and induction of detoxification systems. Here we show that the corn earworm Helicoverpa zea uses jasmonate and salicylate to activate four of its cytochrome P450 genes that are associated with detoxification either before or concomitantly with the biosynthesis of allelochemicals. This ability to 'eavesdrop' on plant defence signals protects H. zea against toxins produced by host plants.     

西双版纳主要林型冠层球蛛多样性比较

为比较西双版纳热带地区不同林型冠层蜘蛛多样性的差异,2007年7-8月,采用冠层喷雾法收集冠层蜘蛛,并以冠层球蛛科蜘蛛为代表进行多样性分析,并以球蛛的种类和数量分布为属性进行典范对应分析（CCA）和聚类分析,探讨不同类型植被与冠层蜘蛛多样性的关系.选择西双版纳勐仑镇5种主要林型（热带季节雨林、石灰山季节雨林、山地常绿阔叶林、人工纯林和橡胶林）为研究样地,每种林型设置4个样方,共计20个样方.共采集成熟球蛛标本944头121种,其中热带季节雨林66种,石灰山季节雨林63种,山地常绿阔叶林48种,人工纯林39种,橡胶林27种.研究结果表明,不同林型冠层球蛛物种数量随植被受干扰程度的增加而减少,而个体密度、多样性指数和丰富度指数随着植被群落结构的简化和人为干扰的加强而呈现出先升高再降低的趋势,说明森林简单化和严重的人为干扰会降低冠层蜘蛛的物种多样性.因此,我国热带地区橡胶林的快速增长将阻碍冠层蜘蛛物种扩散与基因交流,增加物种局部灭绝的风险,对生物多样性造成威胁.而适当增加橡胶林的植被群落结构（如：橡胶林种植茶树）,保留地表植被,减少人为干扰,对保持冠层蜘蛛多样性具有重要意义.     

Ecology: diversity and stability in plant communities

The relationship between species diversity and ecosystem stability is controversial. Tilman et al. analyse biomass patterns over a decade in a grassland experiment with artificial plant communities, and provide evidence for a positive relationship between the number of plant species and the temporal stability of the ecosystem. Here we use data from a long-term biodiversity experiment with plant communities that were not controlled by weeding in order to show that diverse systems can be both stable and unstable.     

Coexistence and relative abundance in forest trees

Contemporary acceleration of biodiversity loss makes increasingly urgent the need to understand the controls of species coexistence. Tree diversity in particular plays a pivotal role in determining terrestrial biodiversity, through maintaining diversity of its dependent species and with them, their predators and parasites. Most theories of coexistence based on the principle of limiting similarity suggest that coexistence of competing species is inherently unstable; coexistence of competitors must be maintained by external forces such as disturbance, immigration or 'patchiness' of resources in space and time. In contrast, storage theory postulates stable coexistence of competing species through temporal alternation of conditions favouring recruitment of one species over the other. Here we use storage theory to develop explicit predictions for relative differences between competitors that allow us to discriminate between coexistence models. Data on tree species from a primary forest on the Mexican Pacific coast support a general dynamic of storage processes determining coexistence of similar tree species in this community, and allow us to reject all other theories of coexistence.     

濒危植物合柱金莲木伴生群落特征

【目的】研究濒危植物合柱金莲木(Sinia rhodoleuca)的伴生群落特征,为该物种的保护提供参考。【方法】采用样地调查法对合柱金莲木的5个分布点:广西融水(P1)、广西金秀(P2)、广西德保(P3)、广东封开(P4)和广东连山(P5)进行调查,分析其伴生群落的种类组成、区系成分、结构特征、物种多样性及其种群年龄结构。【结果】在2000m2样地中共有维管束植物153种,隶属58科113属,主要优势科为樟科、壳斗科、紫金牛科、茜草科等。合柱金莲木伴生群落种子植物包含12个分布区类型,以泛热带分布、旧世界热带分布、热带亚洲分布为主,热带成分占优势,温带成分所占比例较小。合柱金莲木伴生群落结构分层现象明显,可分为乔木层、灌木层和草本层,层间植物匮乏。与P1、P2、P3样地相比,P4、P5样地生境破坏较小,Shannon指数和Simpson指数高。除P5样地内的合柱金莲木种群为增长型外,其余样地的合柱金莲木种群均为衰退型。【结论】合柱金莲木伴生群落的组成种类丰富,科、属组成复杂,其区系特点具有明显的热带-亚热带性质;伴生群落物种多样性与生境破坏程度有关;合柱金莲木种群多呈衰退趋势,应对其加强保护。