Food web structure of the fungivorous insect community on bracket fungi in a Bornean tropical rain forest

Abstract

1. If fungivorous insect diversity is maintained by host specialisation on particular fungi, it should be higher in the tropics than in temperate or boreal regions owing to high macrofungus species diversity.2. To reveal the community and food web structure of fungivorous insects on bracket fungi, fungivorous insects were collected from 427 fruiting bodies belonging to 22 genera throughout the development and deterioration process in a 3‐ha plot of lowland dipterocarp tropical rain forest on Borneo Island.3. Eight hundred and twenty‐nine individuals of 82 coleopteran species in 13 families from 111 fruiting bodies of 15 fungal genera were collected. Tenebrionidae and Staphylinidae were most common. Fifty‐three and 19 insect species were observed on Ganoderma and Phellinus, respectively. The numbers of insect species and individuals on a particular fungal genus were positively correlated with the abundance of that fungal genus.4. Quantitative food web analysis revealed a high degree of specialisation at the whole‐community level. At least 65% of insect individuals were observed on Ganoderma at every stage of development and deterioration. Diverse insects coexist on one dominant fungal genus, Ganoderma, in contrast to our hypothesis.5. The high abundance of Ganoderma fruiting bodies, which lack obvious defences against insect feeding, probably influences the bracket fungus–insect food web in this tropical rainforest.