Phylogenetic influence on the structure of interaction networks between tortoise beetles (Cassidinae s. str., Chrysomelidae, Coleoptera) and their host plants.

• Grant number: 24/10368-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: January 01, 2025
• End date: February 28, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology - Theoretical Ecology
• Principal Investigator: João Vasconcellos Neto
• Grantee: Felipe Capoccia Coelho
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biologia (IB). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Insect-plant nteractions are dominant in modern's terrestrial ecology. Studying them is extremely important for understanding biodiversity patterns, especially in the tropics where both groups have the greatest biodiversity. Network metrics are useful tools for investigating these patterns and providing answers about the ecological and evolutionary processes that shape these interactions. Antagonistic insect-plant networks generally display a modular pattern, determined mainly by the plants characteristics. The balance of adaptations between insects and plants indicates that the organization of network modules is associated with the phylogeny of the species involved. However, studies like this have historically been ignored in the tropics, generating gaps in our knowledge about the interactions of tropical herbivorous insects. Cassidinae s. str. is a group composed exclusively of phytophagous beetles, which have a very high host specificity, making them an interesting model for studies of this type. However, there are no studies using network metrics to study the interactions of these insects with their host plants, much less to understand whether the phylogenies of the groups are related to the patterns of these networks. In this study, we will investigate the patterns of interaction between Cassidinae and their host plants in a preserved area of Atlantic Forest, what are the structural characteristics of the networks formed by these interactions at different taxonomic levels, and whether the patterns found in the network are influenced by the phylogeny of the tortoise beetles and/or of the plants they interact with.