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1,187 results for “herbivores”
Data from: Plant quantity affects development and survival of a gregarious insect herbivore and its endoparasitoid wasp
Virtually all studies of plant-herbivore-natural enemy interactions focus on plant quality as the major constraint on development and survival. However, for many gregarious feeding insect herbivores that feed on small or ephemeral plants, the quantity of resources is much more limiting, yet this area has received virtually no attention. Here, in both lab and semi-field experiments using tents containing variably sized clusters of food plants, we studied the effects of periodic food deprivation in a tri-trophic system where quantitative constraints are profoundly important on insect performance. The large cabbage white Pieris brassicae, is a specialist herbivore of relatively small wild brassicaceous plants that grow in variable densities, with black mustard (Brassica nigra) being one of the most important. Larvae of P. brassicae are in turn attacked by a specialist endoparasitoid wasp, Cotesia glomerata. Increasing the length of food deprivation of newly molted final instar caterpillars significantly decreased herbivore and parasitoid survival and biomass, but shortened their development time. Moreover, the ability of caterpillars to recover when provided with food again was correlated with the length of the food deprivation period. In outdoor tents with natural vegetation, we created conditions similar to those faced by P. brassicae in nature by manipulating plant density. Low densities of B. nigra lead to potential starvation of P. brassicae broods and their parasitoids, replicating nutritional conditions of the lab experiments. The ability of both unparasitized and parasitized caterpillars to find corner plants was similar but decreased with central plant density. Survival of both the herbivore and parasitoid increased with plant density and was higher for unparasitized than for parasitized caterpillars. Our results, in comparison with previous studies, reveal that quantitative constraints are far more important that qualitative constraints on the performance of gregarious insect herbivores and their gregarious parasitoids in nature.
Data from: Experimental assemblage of novel plant-herbivore interactions: ecological host shifts after 40 million years of isolation
Geographic isolation is the first step in insect herbivore diet specialization. Such specialization is postulated to increase insect fitness, but may simultaneously reduce insect ability to colonize novel hosts. During the Paleocene-Eocene, plants from the order Zingiberales became isolated either in the Paleotropics or in the Neotropics. During the Cretaceous, rolled-leaf beetles diversified in the Neotropics concurrently with neotropical Zingiberales. Using a community of Costa Rican rolled-leaf beetles and their Zingiberales host plants as study system, we explored if previous geographic isolation precludes insects to expand their diets to exotic hosts. We recorded interactions between rolled-leaf beetles and native Zingiberales by combining DNA barcodes and field records for 7450 beetles feeding on 3202 host plants. To determine phylogenetic patterns of diet expansions, we set 20 field plots including five exotic Zingiberales, recording beetles feeding on these exotic hosts. In the laboratory, using both native and exotic host plants, we reared a subset of insect species that had expanded their diets to the exotic plants. The original plant-herbivore community comprised 24 beetle species feeding on 35 native hosts, representing 103 plant-herbivore interactions. After exotic host plant introduction, 20% of the beetle species expanded their diets to exotic Zingiberales. Insects only established on exotic hosts that belong to the same plant family as their native hosts. Laboratory experiments show that beetles are able to complete development on these novel hosts. In conclusion, rolled-leaf beetles are pre-adapted to expand their diets to novel host plants even after millions of years of geographic isolation.
Data from: A sink host allows a specialist herbivore to persist in a seasonal source
<p><strong>Filename: </strong>1_Population_growth_rate.xlsx</p> <p>Variables:</p> <p>1. Source host - the plant species from which experimental females were transferred <br> 2. Target host - the plant species to which experimental females were transferred<br> 3. Generations - tested time period, in generations<br> 4. N<sub>0</sub> - the number of females placed at the beginning of the experiment<br> 5. N - the number of mites (being a progeny of N<sub>0</sub> females) counted after each tested time period</p> <p><strong>Filename: </strong>2_Emigration_dispersal.xlsx</p> <p>Variables:</p> <p>1. Source host - the plant species infested by mites and exposed to wind<br> 2. Target host - the plant species toward which mites could disperse<br> 3. N - population size on the source host<br> 4. D - the number of individuals that dispersed from the source host</p> <p><strong>Filename: </strong>3_Emigration_acceptance.xlsx</p> <p>Variables:</p> <p>1. Source host - the plant species from which experimental females were transferred <br> 2. Target host - the plant species to which experimental females were transferred<br> 3. N - the number of females placed on the experimental arena<br> 4. R - the number of females that stayed on the experimental arena after incubation </p> <p><strong>Filename: </strong>4_Experimental_evolution.xlsx</p> <p>Variables:</p> <p>1. Regime - host selection regime (W - wheat; B - brome; WB - wheat-brome alternating each three generations on each host species)<br> 2. Generations - the number of generations the population survived<br> 3. Status - 0 - censored observation; 1 - observed event of extinction</p> <p><strong>Filename: </strong>5_Field_database.xlsx</p> <p>Variables:</p> <p>1. Sampling date - date of plant collection in the field<br> 2. Day - the day of the year when the sample was collected<br> 3. Year - the year of the sample collection<br> 4. Database - N: the sample collected during 2012-2014 surveys; O: the sample collected during 2007-2014 surveys<br> 5. Host - the plant species collected<br> 6. GPS lat. [N] - the latitude in the northern hemisphere<br> 7. GPS long. [E] - the longitude in the eastern hemisphere<br> 8. n - the number of all plant shoots examined<br> 9. k - the number of plant shoots infested</p>
Plant defence to sequential attack is adapted to prevalent herbivores
<p class="Paragraph">Plants have evolved plastic defence strategies<sup> </sup>to deal with uncertainty of when, by which species and in which order attack by herbivores will take place. However, the responses to current herbivore attack may come with a cost of compromising resistance to other, later arriving herbivores. Due to antagonistic cross-talk between physiological regulation of plant resistance to phloem-feeding and leaf-chewing herbivores, the feeding guild of the initial herbivore is considered to be the primary factor determining whether resistance to subsequent attack is compromised. We show that, by investigating 90 pair-wise insect-herbivore interactions among ten different herbivore species, resistance of the annual plant <i>Brassica nigra</i> to a later arriving herbivore species is not explained by feeding guild of the initial attacker. Instead, the prevalence of herbivore species that arrive on induced plants as approximated by three years of season-long insect community assessments in the field explained cross-resistance. Plants maintained resistance to prevalent herbivores in common patterns of herbivore arrival and compromises in resistance especially occurred for rare patterns of herbivore attack. We conclude that plants tailor induced defence strategies to deal with common patterns of sequential herbivore attack and anticipate arrival of the most prevalent herbivores.</p>
Seasonal upwelling reduces herbivore control of tropical rocky intertidal algal communities
<p>Communities are shaped by a variety of ecological and environmental processes, each acting at different spatial scales. Seminal research on rocky shores highlighted the effects of consumers as local determinants of primary productivity and community assembly. However, it is now clear that the species interactions shaping communities at local scales are themselves regulated by large-scale oceanographic processes that generate regional variation in resource availability. Upwelling events deliver nutrient-rich water to coastal ecosystems, influencing primary productivity and algal-herbivore interactions. Despite the potential for upwelling to alter top-down control by herbivores, we know relatively little about the coupling between oceanographic processes and herbivory on tropical rocky shores, where herbivore effects on producers are considered to be strong. By replicating seasonal molluscan herbivore exclusion experiments across three regions exposed to varying intensity of seasonal upwelling, separated by hundreds of kilometers along Panama's Pacific coast, we examine large-scale environmental determinants of consumer effects and community structure on tropical rocky shores. At sites experiencing seasonal upwelling, grazers strongly limited macroalgal cover when upwelling was absent, leading to dominance by crustose algae. As nutrients increased and surface water cooled during upwelling events, increases in primary productivity temporarily weakened herbivory, allowing foliose, turf and filamentous algae to replace crusts. Meanwhile, grazer effects were persistently strong at sites without seasonal upwelling. Our results confirm that herbivores are key determinants of tropical algal cover, however, our focus on regional oceanographic conditions revealed that bottom-up processes regulate top-down control on tropical shorelines. This study expands on the extensive body of work highlighting the influence of upwelling on local ecological processes by demonstrating that nutrient subsidies delivered by upwelling events can weaken herbivory in tropical rocky shores.</p>
Wild strawberry shows genetic variation in tolerance but not resistance to a generalist herbivore
<p>Plants' defenses against herbivores usually include both resistance and tolerance mechanisms. Their deployment has predominantly been studied in either single plant genotypes, or multiple genotypes exposed to single herbivores. In natural situations, however, most plants are attacked by multiple herbivores. Therefore, aims of this study were to assess and compare effects of single and multiple herbivores on plant resistance and tolerance traits, and the consequences for overall plant performance. For this, we exposed multiple genotypes of wild woodland strawberry (<i>Fragaria vesca</i>) to jasmonic acid (JA), to mimic chewing herbivory and induce the plants' defense responses, then introduced the generalist herbivore <i>Spodoptera littoralis</i> to feed on them. We found that woodland strawberry consistently showed resistance to <i>S. littoralis</i> herbivory, with no significant genetic variation between the genotypes. By contrast, the studied genotypes showed high variation in tolerance, suggesting evolutionary potential in this trait. Prior JA application did not alter these patterns, although it induced an even higher level of resistance in all tested genotypes. The study provides novel information that may be useful for breeders seeking to exploit tolerance and resistance mechanisms to improve strawberry crops' viability and yields, particularly when multiple herbivores pose significant threats.</p>
Species complex diversification by host plant use in an herbivorous insect: The source of Puerto Rican cactus mealybug pest and implications for biological control
Cryptic taxa have often been observed in the form of host‐associated species that diverged as the result of adaptation to alternate host plants. Untangling cryptic diversity in species complexes that encompass invasive species is a mandatory task for pest management. Moreover, investigating the evolutionary history of a species complex may help to understand the drivers of their diversification. The mealybug Hypogeococcus pungens was believed to be a polyphagous species from South America and has been reported as a pest devastating native cacti in Puerto Rico, also threatening cactus diversity in the Caribbean and North America. There is neither certainty about the identity of the pest, nor the source population from South America. Recent studies pointed to substantial genetic differentiation among local populations, suggesting that H. pungens is a species complex. In this study, we used a combination of genome-wide SNPs and mtDNA variation to investigate species diversity within H. pungens sensu lato to establish host plant ranges of each one of the putative members of the complex, to evaluate whether the pattern of host plant association drove diversification in the species complex, and to determine the source population of the Puerto Rican cactus pest. Our results suggested that H. pungens comprises at least five different species, each one strongly associated with specific host plants. We also established that the Puerto Rican cactus pest derives from southeastern Brazilian mealybugs. This is an important achievement because it will help to design reliable strategies for biological control using natural enemies of the pest from its native range.
Data from: Spatial covariance of herbivorous and predatory guilds of forest canopy arthropods along a latitudinal gradient
<p>In arthropod community ecology, species richness studies tend to be prioritized over those investigating patterns of abundance. Consequently, the biotic and abiotic drivers of arboreal arthropod abundance are still relatively poorly known. In this cross-continental study, we employ a theoretical framework in order to examine patterns of covariance among herbivorous and predatory arthropod guilds. Leaf-chewing and leaf-mining herbivores, and predatory ants and spiders, were censused on > 1,000 trees in nine 0.1 ha forest plots. After controlling for tree size and season, we found no negative pairwise correlations between guild abundances per plot, suggestive of weak signals of both inter-guild competition and top-down regulation of herbivores by predators. Inter-guild interaction strengths did not vary with mean annual temperature, thus opposing the hypothesis that biotic interactions intensify towards the equator. We find evidence for the bottom-up limitation of arthropod abundances via resources and abiotic factors, rather than for competition and predation.</p>
Effects of large herbivores on fire regimes and wildfire mitigation
<p>1. Abandonment of agricultural land is widespread in many parts of the world, leading to shrub and tree encroachment. The increase of flammable plant biomass, i.e. fuel load, increases the risk and intensity of wildfires. Fuel reduction by herbivores is a promising management strategy to avoid fuel build-up and mitigate wildfires. However, their effectiveness in mitigating wildfire damage may depend on a range of factors, including herbivore type, population density and feeding patterns.<br> <br> 2. Here we review the evidence on whether management with herbivores can reduce fuel load and mitigate wildfires, and if so, how to identify suitable management that can achieve fire mitigation objectives while providing other ecosystem services. We systematically reviewed studies that investigated links between herbivores, fire hazard, fire frequency and fire damage.<br> <br> 3. We found that in general, herbivores reduce fuel load most effectively when they are mixed-feeders, when grazing and browsing herbivores are combined, and when herbivore food preferences match the local vegetation. In some cases, the combination of herbivory with other management strategies, such as mechanical clearing, is necessary to reduce wildfire damage.<br> <br> 4. We conclude that herbivores have the capacity to mitigate wildfire damage, and we provide guidance for grazing management for wildfire mitigation strategies. As areas undergoing land abandonment are particularly prone to wildfires, the maintenance or promotion of grazing by domestic or wild herbivores is a promising tool to reduce wildfire risk in a cost-effective way, while also providing other ecosystem services. Relevant land-use policies, including fire-suppression policies, agricultural and forest(ry) policies could incentivise the use of herbivores for better wildfire prevention.</p>
Figure 3 in Seasonality and abundance of Metamasius callizona (Coleoptera: Dryophthoridae), an invasive insect herbivore, on two species of Tillandsia (Bromeliaceae) in Florida
Figure 3. Average monthly values (¡ two standard errors) for: (A) rainfall (cm); (B) lowest temperature (°C); (C) health ratings for Tillandsia fasciculata; and (D) health ratings for Tillandsia utriculata.
Figure 4 in Seasonality and abundance of Metamasius callizona (Coleoptera: Dryophthoridae), an invasive insect herbivore, on two species of Tillandsia (Bromeliaceae) in Florida
Figure 4. The average weevil count per fallout (wc:fo) per month (¡ two standard errors) for: (A) T. fasciculata; and (B) T. utriculata from June 2001 to June 2005. Note: The weevil count was the number of living weevil adults and living or dead weevil larvae and pupae found in fallout.
FIGURE 1. A in Protozoa in the digestive tract of wild herbivores in South Africa. I: Warthogs (Phacochoerus aethiopicus)
FIGURE 1. A. Telamodinium onyx. Length =90µm; Width = 37µm; L/W = 2.4. Note ciliary bands. B. Telamodinium onyx. Arrow shows skeletal plate which extentds up to anterior end of cell. C. Telamodinium onyx. Arrow shows macronucleus (38µm long). D. Megadinium aethiopicum. Length = 225µm; Width = 128µm; L/W = 1.76. Note the clubshaped macronucleus (Length = 120µm) shown by the arrow. E. Megadinium aethiopicum. Length = 225µm; Width = 133µm; L/W = 1.69; Macronucleus = 129µm. Macronucleus shown by bottom arrow. Cilia bands are also visible, shown by top arrow. F. Diplodinium dentatum. Length = 59µm; Width = 50µm; L/W = 1.18. Readily distinguished by its wide flange along the dorsal body edge, shown by arrow and posterior spines. G. Diplodinium dentatum. Arrows show the six short incurved caudal spines typical for this species. H. Teratodinium sphaeredon. Length = 130µm; Width = 109µm; L/ W = 1.19. Note the round body shape. Arrow indicates location of macronucleus (Length = 87µ m). I and J. Blepharoconus krugerensis. Length = 70µm; W = 47µm; L/W = 1.49. Arrows indicate location of cilia. Posterior ciliary tuft barely visible in J. K. Ophryoscolex purknjei. Length = 72µm; Width = 42µm; L/W = 1.71. Short main caudal spine shown by bottom arrow and dorsal cilia row by top arrow. L. Ophryoscolex purknjei. Circlets of secondary spines are shown by double arrow. Caudal spine by single arrow.
Figure 2 in An annotated checklist of the herbivores and seed predators of Mimulus guttatus
Figure 2. Herbivore richness in surveys and literature records of animals feeding on Mimulus guttatus. (a). Species richness for different regions of M. guttatus range WNA = western North America, UK = United Kingdom, ENA = eastern North America. (b). Species richness between different major groups. (c). Insect species richness of insect orders. (d). Insect species richness for insect families.
Figure 1 in An annotated checklist of the herbivores and seed predators of Mimulus guttatus
Figure 1. Field damage and herbivores on Mimulus guttatus. (a). Leaf mining damage (Chromatomyia sp.) from an Alaskan plant. (b). Aphids attack a plant in California USA. (c). Philaenus spumarius feeding along with signs of caterpillar damage on a plant from New Brunswick Canada. (d). Deer feeding damage from plant in Michigan USA. (e). Sawfly larvae feeding on a flower in Scotland United Kingdom. (f). A very photogenic horse feeding on whole plants in England United Kingdom.
Context dependent fitness costs of reproduction despite stable body mass costs in an Arctic herbivore
<p class="western">1. The cost of reproduction on demographic rates is often assumed to operate through changing body condition. Several studies have found that reproduction depresses body mass more if the current conditions are severe, such as high population densities or adverse weather, than under benign environmental conditions. However, few studies have investigated the association between the fitness and body mass costs of reproduction.</p> <p class="western">2. Using 25 years of individual-based capture-recapture data from Svalbard reindeer (<i>Rangifer tarandus platyrhynchus</i>), we built a novel Bayesian state-space model that jointly estimated inter-annual change in mass, annual reproductive success, and survival, while accounting for incomplete observations. The model allowed us to partition the differential effects of intrinsic and extrinsic factors on both non-reproductive mass change and the body mass cost of reproduction and to quantify their consequences on demographic rates.</p> <p class="western">3. Contrary to our expectation, the body mass cost of reproduction (mean = 5.8 kg) varied little between years (CV = 0.08) whereas the between-year variation in body mass changes, that were independent of the previous year's reproductive state, varied substantially (CV = 0.4) in relation to autumn temperature and the amount of rain-on-snow in winter. This mass loss led to a cost of reproduction on the next reproduction, which was amplified by the same environmental covariates, from a 10% reduction in reproductive success in benign years, to a 50% reduction in harsh years. The reproductive mass loss also resulted in a small reduction in survival.</p> <p class="western">4. Our results show how demographic costs of reproduction, driven by inter-annual fluctuations in individual body condition, result from the balance between body mass costs of reproduction and body mass changes that are independent of previous reproductive state. We illustrate how a strong context dependent fitness cost of reproduction can occur, despite a relatively fixed body mass cost of reproduction. This suggests that female reindeer display a very conservative energy allocation strategy, either aborting their reproductive attempt at an early stage or weaning at a relatively constant cost. Such a strategy might be common in species living in a highly stochastic food limited environment.</p>
Soil engineering by ants facilitates plant compensation for large herbivore removal of aboveground biomass
<p>The interplay between top-down and bottom-up processes determines ecosystem productivity. Yet, the factors that mediate the balance between these opposing forces remain poorly understood. Furthering this challenge, complex and often cryptic factors like ecosystem engineering and trait-mediated interactions may play major roles in mediating the outcomes of top-down and bottom-up interactions. In semi-arid grasslands of northeastern China, we conducted a large-scale, three-year experiment to evaluate how soil engineering by ants and plasticity in plants independently and jointly influenced the top-down effects of grazing by a ubiquitous herbivore (cattle) on aboveground standing biomass of the dominant perennial grass, <i><span>Leymus chinensis</span></i>. Herbivory had strong top-down effects, reducing <i><span>L. chinensis</span></i> AB by 25% relative to baseline levels without cattle or ants. In contrast, soil engineering by ants facilitated weak bottom-up effects in the absence of herbivory. However, in the presence of herbivory, soil engineering effects were strong enough to fully offset herbivore removal of aboveground biomass. This outcome was mediated by <i><span>L. chinensis</span></i>'s plasticity in reallocating growth from below- to aboveground biomass, a result linked to additive effects of engineers and herbivores increasing soil N availability and engineering effects improving soil structure. Soil engineering increased soil N by 12%, promoting aboveground biomass. Herbivores increased soil N by 13% via defecation, but this increase failed to offset their reductions in aboveground biomass in isolation. However, when combined, engineers and herbivores increased soil N by 26% and engineers improved soil bulk density, facilitating <i><span>L. chinensis</span></i> to shift resource allocations from below- to aboveground biomass sufficiently to fully offset herbivore suppression of aboveground biomass. Our results demonstrate that soil engineering and trait-mediated effects of plant plasticity can strongly mediate the outcome of top-down and bottom-up interactions. These cryptic but perhaps ubiquitous processes may help to explain the long-debated phenomenon of plant compensatory responses to large grazers. </p>
Multi-proxy dentition analyses reveal niche partitioning between sympatric herbivorous dinosaurs
<p>In this link we uploaded the raw data related to the MS entitled<strong> "Multi-proxy dentition analyses reveal niche partitioning between sympatric herbivorous dinosaurs" </strong>submitted to Scientific Reports.</p> <p>These files are used for 3D modelling (volumetric calculation and OPCR tooth crown complexity), CT imaging and 2D and 3D microwear files.</p>
Figure 3 in Integration patterns of cheek teeth and ecomorphological evolution in grinding herbivores: the case of caviine rodents (Caviomorpha: Caviidae)
Figure 3. Plot of the first two axes of the PC analysis of the P4-M3 series. Deformation grids for extremes of each axis are illustrated.
Figure 1 in Integration patterns of cheek teeth and ecomorphological evolution in grinding herbivores: the case of caviine rodents (Caviomorpha: Caviidae)
Figure 1. Landmarks (large red circles) and semilandmarks (small orange circles) used to digitize cheek tooth series: A, B, the lower cheek teeth of Cavia (A) and Galea (B); and C, D, upper cheek teeth of Cavia (C) and †Dolicavia (D). See Supporting Information, File S2 for landmark and semilandmark definition.
Figure 4 in Integration patterns of cheek teeth and ecomorphological evolution in grinding herbivores: the case of caviine rodents (Caviomorpha: Caviidae)
Figure 4. Summary scheme of the shape optimization analyses of p4-m3 (lower diagrams) and P4-M3 (upper diagrams) onto a phylogenetic metatree (see Material and Methods section) using parsimony. Discussed ancestral reconstructions and terminal configurations at the generic level are illustrated (for the complete sets of ancestral reconstructions and terminal configurations at the species level, see Supporting Information, File S4). Red trails indicate trajectories of landmarks from the previous reconstruction. The extinct species are indicated by a cross. For fossils represented only by a single series, greydash diagrams represent the missing configurations illustrated by the closer ancestral reconstructed series.
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