Herbivory among habitats on the Neotropical tree Cnidoscolus quercifolius Pohl. in a seasonally deciduous forest

Brazilian Journal of Biology

Ms. Coelho²  Ms. Belmiro²  Jc. Santos¹  Gw Fernandes² 

[1] ,Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais Instituto de Ciências Biológicas Departamento de Biologia GeralBelo Horizonte MG ,Brazil

关键词: Caatinga;    galling insects;    herbivory;    Caatinga;    insetos galhadores;    herbivoria;   

DOI  :  10.1590/S1519-69842012000300006

来源: SciELO

【 摘 要 】

Our goal was to identify herbivory patterns from two insect guilds associated with Cnidoscolus quercifolius in a tropical deciduous forest in northeastern Brazil. We sampled four different habitats: (1) forest edge, (2) mesic (near to the perennial water source), (3) forest interior and (4) rupestrian fields. Habitat edge had lower leaf damage than rupestrian, mesic and forest interior habitats. Nevertheless, abundance of galls at the edge habitat was higher than at mesic, forest interior and/or rupestrian habitats. There was no difference in gall mortality by natural enemies among the four habitats sampled, demonstrating the absence of any influence of top-down controls related to abundance of galls. Trophic relationships were not related to the patterns of distribution among habitats of two insect herbivorous guilds associated with C. quercifolius. Our results demonstrated that environmental heterogeneity of dry forests can significantly alter important ecological interactions and experimental studies are needed to better understand the mechanisms responsible for differences in herbivory among habitats.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
 All the contents of this journal, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License