Not all in the same boat: Trends and mechanisms in herbivory responses to forest fragmentation differ among insect guilds

SPRINGER

Lugar: Berlin; Año: 2014 vol. 8 p. 593 - 593

abitat fragmentation can alter fundamental ecological interactions such as insect herbivory. Few studies of habitat fragmentation effects on herbivory have examined the mechanisms involved, and differences among insect guilds have been largely ignored. Here, we studied area and edge effects on herbivory by three guilds of phytophagous insects in a fragmented Chaco Serrano forest. We estimated herbivory levels on native Croton lachnostachyus plants, and assessed plant availability (distance to nearest conspecific) and quality indicators (water, carbon and nitrogen leaf content), as well as richness and abundance of the associated insect community, in order to explore mechanisms underlying herbivory changes. Herbivory by chewing and sap-sucking insects decreased and herbivory by leaf miners increased in plants growing at the forest edge compared with those at the interior. Forest area effects were detected only in interaction with edge effects on chewing, leaf mining and total herbivory