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Habitat difference in abundance of willow leaf beetle Phratora vulgatissima (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae): plant quality or natural enemies?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 July 2007

P. Dalin
P. Dalin*
Affiliation:
Department of Entomology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, PO Box 7044, SE-750 07 Uppsala, Sweden
*
*Current address: Marine Science Institute, University of California at Santa Barbara, CA 93106-6150, USA Fax: 1 805 893 8062 E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

Herbivorous insects are influenced by both ‘bottom-up’ forces mediated through host plants and ‘top-down’ forces from natural enemies. Few studies have tried to evaluate the relative importance of the two forces in determining the abundance of insects. The leaf beetle Phratora vulgatissima Linnaeus sometimes occurs at high densities and severely damages the willow Salix cinerea in forest habitats. For willows growing in open agricultural landscapes (farmland S. cinerea), the leaf beetle generally occurs at low densities and plants receive little damage. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the relative importance of host plant quality and natural enemies behind the observed difference in P. vulgatissima abundance. Female egg-laying and larval performance (growth and survival) were studied on caged willow branches in the field to investigate if plant quality differs between S. cinerea trees growing in forest and farmland habitats. The survival of eggs exposed to natural enemies was examined to see if predation could explain the low abundance of leaf beetles on farmland willows. The results indicated no difference in plant quality; female egg laying and larval performance did not differ between the forest and the farmland. However, heteropteran predators (true bugs) were more abundant, and the survival of eggs was lower, on plants in the farmland habitat than in the forest habitat. The data suggest that the low abundance of P. vulgatissima on farmland willows could not be explained by a poor quality of plants, but more likely by high predation from heteropterans.

Keywords

bottom-upHeteropteraPhratora vulgatissimaSalix cinereatop-down
Type
Research Article
Information
Bulletin of Entomological Research , Volume 96 , Issue 6 , December 2006 , pp. 629 - 635
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2006

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