Article contents
Sandfly stratification on tree buttresses in a Costa Rican tropical rainforest
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 July 2009
Abstract
In humid forests tree buttresses and tree trunks are used as diurnal resting sites by phlebotomine sandflies (Diptera: Psychodidae). When several species are present on the same buttress, the sandfly species are spatially segregated resulting in a pattern of vertical stratification on the buttress within 100 cm of ground level. A change in the distribution of one species induces a change in the distribution of an adjacent species. This is demonstrated under both natural and experimental conditions. Observations of sandflies at dawn and dusk have revealed that the buttress is used as a swarming site; this behaviour provides our favoured explanation for the patterns of vertical stratification on tree buttresses.
Keywords
- Type
- Research Article
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994
References
LITERATURE CITED
- 2
- Cited by