Shifts in species richness, herbivore specialization, and plant resistance along elevation gradients

Ecology and Evolution

Loïc Pellissier¹  Konrad Fiedler²  Charlotte Ndribe¹  Anne Dubuis¹  Jean-Nicolas Pradervand¹  Antoine Guisan¹ 

[1] Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne Bâtiment Biophore, Lausanne, Switzerland;Department of Tropical Ecology and Animal Biodiversity, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

关键词: Diet breadth;    generalist herbivores;    host plant;    phylogenetic ecology;    plant resistance;    plant–herbivore interaction;    polyphagy;    specialist herbivores;   

DOI  :  10.1002/ece3.296

来源: Wiley

【 摘 要 】

Abstract

Environmental gradients have been postulated to generate patterns of diversity and diet specialization, in which more stable environments, such as tropical regions, should promote higher diversity and specialization. Using field sampling and phylogenetic analyses of butterfly fauna over an entire alpine region, we show that butterfly specialization (measured as the mean phylogenetic distance between utilized host plants) decreases at higher elevations, alongside a decreasing gradient of plant diversity. Consistent with current hypotheses on the relationship between biodiversity and the strength of species interactions, we experimentally show that a higher level of generalization at high elevations is associated with lower levels of plant resistance: across 16 pairs of plant species, low-elevation plants were more resistant vis-à-vis their congeneric alpine relatives. Thus, the links between diversity, herbivore diet specialization, and plant resistance along an elevation gradient suggest a causal relationship analogous to that hypothesized along latitudinal gradients.

【 授权许可】

CC BY-NC   
© 2012 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.