Multitrophic web of insects associated with Piptadenia gonoacantha (Mart.) Macbr. (Fabaceae) and their relationship with resource traits

We describe for the first time the food web of insects associated with fruits and seed of Piptadenia gonoacantha (Fabaceae), and analyze their relationships with resource traits, such as biomass and fruit area. A total of 440 fruits of P. Gonoacantha were sampled in the city of Lavras, Minas Gerais,...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Arthropod-plant interactions 2018-08, Vol.12 (4), p.553-565
Main Authors: Morales-Silva, Tiago, Monteiro, Angelo, Faria, Lucas Del Bianco
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Behavioral Sciences
Biomass
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Ecology
Eggs
Entomology
Fabaceae
Food
Food chains
Food webs
Fruits
Herbivores
Insects
Invertebrates
Larvae
Lepidoptera
Life Sciences
Original Paper
Oviposition
Parasitism
Parasitoids
Plant Pathology
Plant Sciences
Plant tissues
Seeds
Species
Trophic levels
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Summary:We describe for the first time the food web of insects associated with fruits and seed of Piptadenia gonoacantha (Fabaceae), and analyze their relationships with resource traits, such as biomass and fruit area. A total of 440 fruits of P. Gonoacantha were sampled in the city of Lavras, Minas Gerais, Brazil. We found twenty-one species of insects distributed in three trophic levels. The most widely sampled species was Acanthoscelides clitellarius (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae, Bruchinae), the main consumer species of seeds. It was also verified the presence of Lepidoptera larvae consuming both seeds and the internal fruit tissue. Other species of herbivorous insects were found in low numbers. The food web was subdivided into one sub-web of 10 parasitoid species and one hyperparasitoid species associated to A. clitellarius and another one sub-web of four parasitoid species associated with Lepidoptera. For the parasitism rates, we obtained the following: 19.11% for the total food web, 17.93% for the A. clitellarius parasitism, and 36% for the Lepidoptera parasitism. The resource traits had influence on the oviposition behavior of A. clitellarius , where fruits with larger area showed more eggs of this species. Fruits with higher biomass showed greater abundance and richness of insects as well as more interactions. Seeds with higher biomass were more often used by herbivorous insects. The larval forms of Lepidoptera caused the greatest damage in seed biomass among herbivores. Seeds with parasitoids did not show a significant difference in biomass when compared to predated seeds.
ISSN:1872-8855
1872-8847
DOI:10.1007/s11829-018-9602-4