Effects of insularity on insect leaf herbivory and chemical defences in a Mediterranean oak species
Visualitza/Obre
Autor/a
Moreira, Xoaquín
Castagneyrol, Bastien
de la Mata, Raúl
Fyllas, Nikolaos M.
Galmán, Andrea
García‐Verdugo, Carlos
Larrinaga, Asier R.
Abdala‐Roberts, Luis
Data de publicació
2019-05-11ISSN
0305-0270
Resum
Aim
Research on plant–herbivore interactions has shown that islands typically have low abundances and diversity of herbivores because of barriers to dispersal, isolation and reduced land area. Islands commonly have lower levels of herbivory relative to mainland regions, and, as a consequence, insular plants should exhibit lower levels of defences than their mainland counterparts. Despite these predictions, there are significant gaps in our understanding of insularity effects on plant–herbivore interactions. For instance, most work addressing the effects of insularity on plant–herbivore interactions have compared one or a few islands with a single mainland site. In addition, studies have measured herbivory or plant defences but not both, and the influence of abiotic factors has been neglected.
Location
Mediterranean Basin (from Spain to Greece).
Taxon
Quercus ilex L.
Methods
We conducted a large‐scale study to investigate whether insect leaf herbivory and plant chemical defences in holm oak (Quercus ilex L.) differ between insular versus mainland populations. We further investigated mechanisms by which insularity effects on herbivory may take place by assessing the influence of defences and climatic variables on herbivory.
Results
We found that insular populations exhibited lower herbivory and higher defences (condensed tannins) than their mainland counterparts. Our analyses, however, suggest that these concomitant patterns of insect herbivory and plant defences were seemingly unrelated as island versus mainland differences in defences did not account for the observed pattern in herbivory. Furthermore, climatic factors did not explain insularity effects on either herbivory or plant defences.
Main conclusions
Overall, this study provides one of the most robust assessments to date on insularity effects on herbivory and builds towards a better understanding of the ecology and evolution of plant–insect interactions in insular ecosystems.
Tipus de document
Article
Versió del document
Versió acceptada
Llengua
English
Matèries (CDU)
630 - Silvicultura. Arboricultura
Pàgines
18
Publicat per
Wiley
Publicat a
Journal of Biogeography
Citació
Moreira, Xoaquín, Bastien Castagneyrol, Raúl Mata, Nikolaos M. Fyllas, Andrea Galmán, Carlos García‐Verdugo, Asier R. Larrinaga, and Luis Abdala‐Roberts. 2019. "Effects Of Insularity On Insect Leaf Herbivory And Chemical Defences In A Mediterranean Oak Species". Journal Of Biogeography 46 (6): 1226-1233. Wiley. doi:10.1111/jbi.13589.
Número de l'acord de la subvenció
MINECO/Programa Estatal de I+D+I orientada a los retos de la sociedad/AGL2015‐70748‐R/ES/Factores que determinan la existencia de síndromes defensivos en especies del género Quercus en la península ibérica: Implicaciones para la conservación de especies amenazadas/
Programa
Fructicultura
Aquest element apareix en la col·lecció o col·leccions següent(s)
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Excepte que s'indiqui una altra cosa, la llicència de l'ítem es descriu com http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/