Variability in leaf herbivory in the context of a fragmented landscape

• Grant number: 24/09414-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: September 01, 2024
• End date: December 31, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology
• Principal Investigator: Milton Cezar Ribeiro
• Grantee: Hellen Daiany Santos Lopes
• Supervisor: William Carroll Wetzel
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Rio Claro. Rio Claro , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Montana State University, United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 23/16453-6 - Influence of Edge Distance and Fragment Age on Leaf Herbivory in Tropical Forest, BP.IC

Abstract

Deforestation and exploitation of tropical forests, such as the Atlantic Forest, have resulted in the fragmentation of these ecosystems, transforming continuous areas into remnants delineated by edges. This process negatively impacts forest ecology and its communities, especially due to the edge effect, which exposes organisms to different environmental conditions in peripheral areas. Plant-insect interaction is influenced by the structural complexity of the forest, and the creation of edges intensifies herbivory. There is significant variation in the intensity of this interaction along environmental gradients, as well as at the edges of forest fragments. Changes in landscape structure affect both plants and herbivores, with implications for successional stages of vegetation and insect dispersal. Forest fragmentation and variability in herbivory likely interact via nonlinear ecological processes, such as Jensen's inequality, leading to outbreaks of herbivorous insects. However, despite the importance of herbivory for ecosystem functioning, little is known about the influence of landscape factors on the intensity and variability of herbivory. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to investigate how edge distance, edge density, and fragment age can explain variability in foliar herbivory in tropical forest fragments.