Journal ArticleDOI
Biogeographical gradients in galling species richness : Tests of hypotheses.
TLDR
The present study corroborates the hypothesis that the gall forming habit is an adaptation to harsh or stressful environments, and describes for the first time broad scale geographical patterns in galling insect species richness.Abstract:
Five hypotheses were invoked to account for variation in galling species number per location on plants of different structural complexity, namely herbs, shrubs, and trees, both in Brazil and USA. The hypotheses were: 1) the altitudinal/latitudinal gradient hypothesis; 2) the harsh environment hypothesis; 3) the plant species richness hypothesis; 4) the host plant area hypothesis; 5) the plant structural complexity hypothesis. The altitudinal and the harsh environment hypotheses were correlated and supported with sample data in both localities, with increasing gall species number as altitude/latitude declined and as sites became hotter and drier. The two hypotheses were separated by studying riparian sites and dry hillside sites at the same elevation in Arizona. Galling species frequency was higher in dry sites than in riparian sites, supporting the harsh environment hypothesis. Of the five hypotheses tested only the harsh environment hypothesis predicted that galling insect species number should vary in response to environmental variables such as moisture and temperature. Temperate shrubs supported more galling species than did other plant types, both in dry and mesic sites. The overall difference between galling species richness for tropical and temperate latitudes was not statistically significant. Free-feeding insect herbivore species exhibited the opposite pattern of species richness to gallers, being more speciose in riparian sites. The present study corroborates the hypothesis that the gall forming habit is an adaptation to harsh or stressful environments, and we describe for the first time broad scale geographical patterns in galling insect species richness.read more
Citations
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The Plant Vigor Hypothesis and Herbivore Attack
TL;DR: Four sources of evidence are used to support the Plant Vigor Hypothesis that many herbivore species feed preferentially on vigorous plants or plant modules, as opposed to the Plant Stresshypothesis arguing that stressed plants ae beneficial to herbivores.
Journal ArticleDOI
Ecology and evolution of plant diversity in the endangered campo rupestre: a neglected conservation priority
Fernando A. O. Silveira,Daniel Negreiros,Newton P. U. Barbosa,Elise Buisson,Flávio Fonseca do Carmo,Daniel W. Carstensen,Abel Augusto Conceição,Tatiana Cornelissen,Livia Echternacht,G. Wilson Fernandes,G. Wilson Fernandes,Queila Souza Garcia,Tadeu J. Guerra,Claudia Maria Jacobi,José P. Lemos-Filho,Soizig Le Stradic,Soizig Le Stradic,Soizig Le Stradic,Leonor Patrícia Cerdeira Morellato,Frederico de Siqueira Neves,Rafael S. Oliveira,Rafael S. Oliveira,Carlos Ernesto Gonçalves Reynaud Schaefer,Pedro Lage Viana,Hans Lambers +24 more
TL;DR: It is shown that campo rupestre is fully comparable to and remarkably convergent with both fynbos and kwongkan, and fulfills the criteria for a classic OCBIL.
Journal ArticleDOI
Elevational gradients in ant species richness: area, geometry, and Rapoport's rule
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine patterns in ant species richness along elevational gradients in three states in the western US: Colorado, Nevada, and Utah, and test for the effects of available area and the geometric constraints model on species richness patterns.
Journal ArticleDOI
The distribution of insects along elevational gradients
TL;DR: All of the evidence indicates that a complex interplay of local ecological interactions, latitude, disturbance, and sampling regime determines the elevation of maximum insect species richness.
Journal ArticleDOI
Global patterns in local number of insect galling species
Peter W. Price,G. Wilson Fernandes,Angela Christina F. Lara,Jeffrey D. Brawn,Héctor Barrios,Mark G. Wright,Sérvio P. Ribeiro,Nikita Rothcliff +7 more
TL;DR: Over 280 samples of local species of galling herbivorous insects from fourteen countries on all continents except Antarctica revealed a strong pattern of highest richness in warm temperate latitudes, or their altitudinal equivalents, and results were consistent with the hypothesis.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI
Latitudinal gradients in species diversity: a review of concepts
TL;DR: The six major hypotheses of the control of species diversity are restated, examined, and some possible tests suggested.
Journal ArticleDOI
The cerrado vegetation of Brazil
TL;DR: Cerrado as a vegetational province has been identified as one of the most important regions in the world in terms of vegetation diversity and diversity of trees and shrubs as discussed by the authors.
Journal ArticleDOI
Latitudinal variations in organic diversity
TL;DR: The following pages serve to review some previously known latitudinalGradients in organic diversity, to describe quantitatively gradients in molluscan diversity along North American shores, and to inquire into the origin of these patterns.
Journal ArticleDOI
Plant Architecture and the Diversity of Phytophagous Insects
TL;DR: In general, trees have richer insect faunas than herbs, and their discovery among plant-feeding insects is neither novel nor surprising.