Conservationists are far from able to assist all species under threat, if only for lack of funding. This places a premium on priorities: how can we support the most species at the least cost? One way is to identify 'biodiversity hotspots' where exceptional concentrations of endemic species are undergoing exceptional loss of habitat. As many as 44% of all species of vascular plants and 35% of all species in four vertebrate groups are confined to 25 hotspots comprising only 1.4% of the land surface of the Earth. This opens the way for a 'silver bullet' strategy on the part of conservation planners, focusing on these hotspots in proportion to their share of the world's species at risk.

Biodiversity hotspots for conservation priorities

Host plant quality is a key determinant of the fecundity of herbivorous insects. Components of host plant quality (such as carbon, nitrogen, and defensive metabolites) directly affect potential and achieved herbivore fecundity. The responses of insect herbivores to changes in host plant quality vary within and between feeding guilds. Host plant quality also affects insect reproductive strategies: Egg size and quality, the allocation of resources to eggs, and the choice of oviposition sites may all be influenced by plant quality, as may egg or embryo resorption on poor-quality hosts. Many insect herbivores change the quality of their host plants, affecting both inter- and intraspecific interactions. Higher-trophic level interactions, such as the performance of predators and parasitoids, may also be affected by host plant quality. We conclude that host plant quality affects the fecundity of herbivorous insects at both the individual and the population scale.

Host plant quality and fecundity in herbivorous insects

Whole-plant energy capture depends not only on the photosynthetic response of individual leaves, but also on their integration into an effective canopy, and on the costs of producing and maintaining their photosynthetic capacity. This paper explores adaptation to irradiance level in this context, focusing on traits whose significance would be elusive if considered in terms of their impact at the leaf level alone. I review traditional approaches used to demonstrate or suggest adaptation to irradiance level, and outline three energetic tradeoffs likely to shape such adaptation, involving the economics of gas exchange, support, and biotic interactions. Recent models using these tradeoffs to account for trends in leaf nitrogen content, stornatal conductance, phyllotaxis, and defensive allocations in sun v. shade are evaluated. A re-evaluation of the classic study of acclimation of the photosynthetic light response in Atriplex, crucial to interpreting adaptation to irradiance in many traits, shows that it does not completely support the central dogma of adaptation to sun v. shade unless the results are analysed in terms of whole-plant energy capture. Calculations for Liriodendron show that the traditional light compensation point has little meaning for net carbon gain, and that the effective compensation point is profoundly influenced by the costs of night leaf respiration, leaf construction, and the construction of associated support and root tissue. The costs of support tissue are especially important, raising the effective compensation point by 140 pmol m- s - ' in trees 1 m tall, and by nearly 1350 pmol m - s - ' in trees 30 m tall. Effective compensation points give maximum tree heights as a function of irradiance, and shade tolerance as a function of tree height; calculations of maximum permissible height in Liriodendron correspond roughly with the height of the tallest known individual. Finally, new models for the evolution of canopy width/height ratio in response to irradiance and coverage within a tree stratum, and for the evolution of mottled leaves as a defensive measure in understory herbs, are outlined.

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Adaptation to Sun and Shade: a Whole-Plant Perspective

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Playing Chutes and Ladders: Heterogeneity and the Relative Roles of Bottom-Up and Top-Down Forces in Natural Communities

Biome-scaledisturbancesbyeruptiveherbivoresprovidevaluableinsightsintospeciesinteractions,ecosystemfunction,andimpactsof globalchange. We present a conceptual framework using one system as a model, emphasizing interactions across levels of biological hierarchy and spatiotemporal scales. Bark beetles are major natural disturbance agents in western North American forests. However, recent bark beetle population eruptions have exceeded the frequencies, impacts, and ranges documented during the previous 125 years. Extensive host abundance and susceptibility, concentrated beetle density, favorable weather, optimal symbiotic associations, and escape from natural enemies must occur jointly for beetles to surpass a series of thresholds and exert widespread disturbance. Opposing feedbacks determine qualitatively distinct outcomes at junctures at the biochemical through landscape levels. Eruptions occur when key thresholds are surpassed, prior constraints cease to exert influence, and positive feedbacks amplify across scales. These dynamics are bidirectional, as landscape features influence how lower-scale processes are amplified or buffered. Climate change and reduced habitat heterogeneity increase the likelihood that key thresholds will be exceeded, and may cause fundamental regime shifts. Systems in which endogenous feedbacks can dominate after external forces foster the initial breach of thresholds appear particularly sensitive to anthropogenic perturbations.

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Sir R. Southwood

Papers

Insects on Plants: Community Patterns and Mechanisms