Abstract
AbstractNatural enemies of plants have the potential to influence the dynamics of plant populations and the structure of plant communities. In diverse tropical forests, research on the effects of plant enemies has largely focused on the diversity‐enhancing effects of highly specialized enemies, while the community‐level effects of enemies with broader diets have rarely been considered. We investigated the community of insect seed predators interacting with seven tree species in the family Lauraceae on Barro Colorado Island (Panama). We present one of the first quantitative food webs for pre‐dispersal insect seed predators and their host plants, and use the information in the web to assess the potential for indirect interactions between the tree species. Our data suggest that there is high potential for indirect interactions between Lauraceae species via their shared seed predators. The strength and direction of these interactions are largely unrelated to the phylogenetic distance and trait similarity between species but are likely governed by the volume of fruit produced by each tree species.Abstract in Spanish is available with online material.
Highlights
The interactions between plants and their natural enemies are among the commonest ecological interactions observed in nature (Bernays, 1992; Strong, 1988)
We present one of the first quantitative food webs for predispersal insect seed predators and their host plants, and use the information in the web to assess the potential for indirect interactions between the tree species
Our webs were dominated by three host plant species (Beilschmiedia tovarensis, Ocotea puberula, and Ocotea oblonga) and one seed predator species (Pagiocerus frontalis)
Summary
The interactions between plants and their natural enemies are among the commonest ecological interactions observed in nature (Bernays, 1992; Strong, 1988). Existing studies of internally feeding insect seed predators (including post-dispersal seed predators) suggest that these plant enemies tend to be relatively host-specific (Gripenberg et al, 2019), but there are cases where individual seed predator species are associated with multiple plant species, typically within the same genus or family (Ctvrtecka, Sam, Miller, Weiblen, & Novotny, 2016; Janzen, 1980; Sam et al, 2017) Such seed predator species could potentially link the regeneration dynamics of their host plant species via enemy-mediated indirect interactions such as apparent competition (Holt, 1977; Lewis & Gripenberg, 2008).
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