Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-xbtfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-15T15:20:22.716Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Aggregation and synecology of arboreal arthropods associated with an overstorey rain forest tree in Australia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

Yves Basset
Yves Basset
Affiliation:
Division of Australian Environmental Studies, Griffith University, Nathan Qld 4111, Australia
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The cohesion of the arthropod community associated with the rain forest tree Argyrodendron actinophyllum was studied in a warm subtropical rain forest in Australia. The distribution of most arthropods was contagious on the foliage of A. actinophyllum. Chewers and phloem-feeders were more clumped than epiphyte grazers and parasitoids. Arthropod predator-prey ratios were high and relatively constant over time, as revealed by measures of their activity. However, similar ratios in abundance and species-richness of arthropods foraging on foliage showed high variability in space and no consistent trends. Species associations on the foliage were difficult to predict and did not constitute either a single, well-united community or well-delimited subcommunitics. Most of the data suggest that on the foliage of A. actinophyllum, the cohesion of the arthropod community is not extremely strong. Apart from methodological constraints, possible reasons for this include the influence of host-tree phenology, and the high arthropod-diversity of the rain forest environment.

Keywords

arboreal arthropodsaggregationArgyrodendron actinophyllumAustraliacommunity structurepredator-prey ratiossynecology
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 8 , Issue 3 , August 1992 , pp. 317 - 327
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1992

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

LITERATURE CITED

Adis, J., Lubin, Y. D. & Montgomery, G. G. 1984. Arthropods from the canopy of inundated and Terra firme forest near Manaus, Brazil, with critical considerations on the Pyrethrum-fogging technique. Studies on Neotropical Fauna and Environment 19:223–236.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Basset, Y. 1988. A composite interception trap for sampling arthropods in tree canopies. Journal of the Australian Entomological Society 27:213–219.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Basset, Y. 1990. The arboreal fauna of the rainforest tree Argyrodendron actinophyllum as sampled with restricted canopy fogging: Composition of the fauna. The Entomologist 109:173–183.Google Scholar
Basset, Y. 1991a. The taxonomic composition of the arthropod fauna associated with an Australian rainforest tree. Australian Journal of Zoology 39:171–190.Google Scholar
Basset, Y. 1991b. The seasonality of arboreal arthropods foraging within an Australian rainforest tree. Ecological Entomology 16:265–278.Google Scholar
Basset, Y. 1991c. The spatial distribution of leaf damage, galls and mines within an Australian rainforest tree. Biotropica 23:271–281.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Basset, Y. 1991d. Influence of leaf traits on the spatial distribution of insect herbivores associated with an overstorey rainforest tree. Oecologia 87:388–393.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Basset, Y. 1991e. Leaf production of an overstorey rainforest tree and its effects on the temporal distribution of associated insect herbivores. Oecologia 88:211–219.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Basset, Y. 1992. Influence of leaf traits on the spatial distribution of arboreal arthropods within an overstorey rainforest tree. Ecological Entomology 17. In press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Basset, Y. & Arthington, A. H. 1992. The arthropod community associated with an Australian rainforest tree: abundance of component taxa, species richness and guild structure. Australian Journal of Ecology 17:89–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Basset, Y. & Kitching, R. L. 1991. Species number, species abundance and body length of arboreal arthropods associated with an Australian rainforest tree. Ecological Entomology 16:391–402.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Digby, P. G. N. & Kempton, R. A. 1987. Multivariate analysis of ecological communities. Chapman & Hall, London.Google Scholar
Erwin, T. L. 1983. Beetles and other insects of tropical forest canopies at Manaus, Brazil, sampled by inseetieidal fogging. Pp. 59–76 in Sutton, S. L., Whitmore, T. C. & Chadwick, A. C. (eds). Tropical rain forest ecology and management. Blackwell, Oxford.Google Scholar
Erwin, T. L. & Scott, J. C. 1980. Seasonal and size patterns, trophic structure and richness of Coleoptera in the tropical arboreal ecosystem: the fauna of the tree Luehea seemannii Triana and Planch in the Canal Zone of Panama. Coleopterists Bulletin 34:305–322.Google Scholar
Evans, F. C. & Murdoch, W. W. 1968. Taxonomic composition, trophic structure and seasonal occurrence in a grassland insect community. Journal of Animal Ecology 37:259–273.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Farrell, B. D. & Erwin, T. L. 1988. Leaf-beetle community structure in an amazonian rainforest canopy. Pp. 73–90 in Jolivet, P., Petitpierre, E. & Hsiao, T. H. (eds). Biology of Chrysomelidae. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht.Google Scholar
Feeny, P. P. 1976. Plant apparency and chemical defense. Recent Advances in Phytochemistry 10:1–40.Google Scholar
Fox, L. R. & Morrow, P. A. 1986. On comparing herbivore damage in Australian and north temperate systems. Australian Journal of Ecology 11:387–393.Google Scholar
Iwao, S. 1968. A new regression method for analyzing the aggregation pattern of animal populations. Research in Population Ecology 10:1–20.Google Scholar
Jermy, T. 1988. Can predation lead to narrow food specialization in phytophagous insects? Ecology 69:902–904.Google Scholar
Legendre, P. & Legendre, L. 1984. Ecologie numérique. Tomes 1 et 2. Masson, Paris.Google Scholar
Lockwood, J. A., Christiansen, T. A. & Legg, D. E. 1990. Arthropod prey-predator ratios in a sagebrush habitat: methodological and ecological implications. Ecology 71:996–1005.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Majer, J. D. & Recher, H. F. 1988. Invertebrate communities on western Australia eucalyptus: a comparison of branch clipping and chemical knockdown procedures. Australian Journal of Ecology 13:269–278.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
May, R. M. 1973. Stability and complexity in model ecosystems. Princeton University Press, Princeton.Google Scholar
Morrow, P. A. 1977. Host specificity of insects in a community of three co-dominant Eucalyptus species. Australian Journal of Ecology 2:89–106.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morse, D. R., Stork, N. E. & Lawton, J. H. 1988. Species number, species abundance and body length relationships of arboreal beetles in Bornean lowland rain forest trees. Ecological Entomology 13:25–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sokal, R. R. & Rohlf, F. J. 1981. Biometry. Freeman, New York.Google Scholar
Stork, N. E. 1987a. Arthropod faunal similarity of Bornean rain forest trees. Ecological Entomology 12:219–226.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stork, N. E. 1987b. Guild structure of arthropods from Bornean rain forest trees. Ecological Entomology 12:69–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stork, N. E. 1991. The composition of the arthropod fauna of Bornean lowland rain forest trees. Journal of Tropical Ecology 7:161–180.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stork, N. E. & Brendell, M. J. D. 1990. Variation in the insect fauna of Sulawesi trees with season, altitude and forest type. Pp. 173–190 in Knight, W. J. & Holloway, J. D. (eds). Insects and the rain forests of South East Asia (Wallacea). The Royal Entomological Society of London, London.Google Scholar
Taylor, L. R. 1984. Assessing and interpreting the spatial distributions of insect populations. Annual Review of Entomology 29:321–357.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Watanabe, H. & Ruaysoongnern, S. 1989. Estimation of arboreal arthropod density in a dry evergreen forest in Northeastern Thailand. Journal of Tropical Ecology 5:151–158.Google Scholar
Woinarski, J. C. Z. & Cullen, J. M. 1984. Distribution of invertebrates on foliage in forests of southeastern Australia. Australian Journal of Ecology 9:207–232.CrossRefGoogle Scholar