Temporal distribution in a tri-trophic system associated with Piper amalago L. in a tropical seasonal forest

Autor(es)

Cosmo, Leandro G. ^[1] ; Nascimento, Andre R. ^[1] ; Cogni, Rodrigo ^[2] ; Freitas, Andre V. L. ^[1]

Afiliação do(s) autor(es)

^[1] Univ Estadual Campinas, Dept Biol Anim, Inst Biol, CP 6109, BR-13083970 Campinas - Brazil

^[2] Univ Sao Paulo, Dept Ecol, BR-05508900 Sao Paulo - Brazil

• Tipo de documento: Artigo Científico
• Fonte: ARTHROPOD-PLANT INTERACTIONS; v. 13, n. 4, p. 647-652, AUG 2019.
• Citações Web of Science: 0

Resumo

Insect seasonality is a known pattern that has intrigued ecologists for over 30years. However, despite being well understood in general, for several taxa such as Lepidopteran caterpillars its underlying causes and mechanisms are still not fully understood. This is especially critical for Brazilian tropical forests where caterpillars have previously been shown to have a puzzling pattern of peaking in abundance only in the first months of the dry season; however, this pattern still lacks an explanation. Here, to advance our understanding of the factors underlying seasonal changes in caterpillar abundance in tropical forests, we addressed how the lepidopteran caterpillar community that feeds on Piper amalago L. plants, their host plants leaf numbers, the herbivory levels, and the parasitoid pressure all change throughout the dry and wet seasons in a Brazilian tropical semideciduous forest. We found that immature abundance and herbivory peak in the first 2months of the dry season and then rapidly decrease and remain low throughout the remaining of the dry season and the entire wet season at the study site. However, although the proportion of parasitized immatures increased alongside caterpillar abundance, it peaked in the month that followed a drastic decrease in caterpillar abundance. These results suggest that parasitoids play a major role in the observed caterpillar abundance pattern and thus, we propose the hypothesis that high parasitoid predation pressure causes early eclosion and emergence of caterpillars and primarily drives caterpillar abundance seasonality in Brazilian tropical forests. (AU)

• Processo FAPESP: 11/50225-3 - História natural, filogenia e conservação de lepidópteros neotropicais
• Beneficiário: André Victor Lucci Freitas
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Programa BIOTA - Regular
• Processo FAPESP: 13/25991-0 - Ecologia genômica de insetos: adaptações ao clima e evolução de interações ecológicas
• Beneficiário: Rodrigo Cogni
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Jovens Pesquisadores
• Processo FAPESP: 14/50316-7 - Dimensões US-BIOTA São Paulo: diversidade de interações multi-tróficas quimicamente mediadas em gradientes nos trópicos
• Beneficiário: Massuo Jorge Kato
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Programa BIOTA - Temático
• Processo FAPESP: 16/01380-0 - Composição e abundância de larvas de lepidópteros associadas a Piper spp. (Piperales: Piperaceae) na Mata de Santa Genebra, SP
• Beneficiário: Leandro Giacobelli Cosmo
• Modalidade de apoio: Bolsas no Brasil - Iniciação Científica