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Insect density-plant density relationships: a modified view of insect responses to resource concentrations

Andersson, Petter ; Löfstedt, Christer LU and Hambäck, Peter A. (2013) In Oecologia 173(4). p.1333-1344
Abstract
Habitat area is an important predictor of spatial variation in animal densities. However, the area often correlates with the quantity of resources within habitats, complicating our understanding of the factors shaping animal distributions. We addressed this problem by investigating densities of insect herbivores in habitat patches with a constant area but varying numbers of plants. Using a mathematical model, predictions of scale-dependent immigration and emigration rates for insects into patches with different densities of host plants were derived. Moreover, a field experiment was conducted where the scaling properties of odour-mediated attraction in relation to the number of odour sources were estimated, in order to derive a prediction... (More)
Habitat area is an important predictor of spatial variation in animal densities. However, the area often correlates with the quantity of resources within habitats, complicating our understanding of the factors shaping animal distributions. We addressed this problem by investigating densities of insect herbivores in habitat patches with a constant area but varying numbers of plants. Using a mathematical model, predictions of scale-dependent immigration and emigration rates for insects into patches with different densities of host plants were derived. Moreover, a field experiment was conducted where the scaling properties of odour-mediated attraction in relation to the number of odour sources were estimated, in order to derive a prediction of immigration rates of olfactory searchers. The theoretical model predicted that we should expect immigration rates of contact and visual searchers to be determined by patch area, with a steep scaling coefficient, mu = -1. The field experiment suggested that olfactory searchers should show a less steep scaling coefficient, with mu a parts per thousand -0.5. A parameter estimation and analysis of published data revealed a correspondence between observations and predictions, and density-variation among groups could largely be explained by search behaviour. Aphids showed scaling coefficients corresponding to the prediction for contact/visual searchers, whereas moths, flies and beetles corresponded to the prediction for olfactory searchers. As density responses varied considerably among groups, and variation could be explained by a certain trait, we conclude that a general theory of insect responses to habitat heterogeneity should be based on shared traits, rather than a general prediction for all species. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Habitat heterogeneity, Species traits, Immigration, Electroantennogram, Scale dependencies
in
Oecologia
volume
173
issue
4
pages
1333 - 1344
publisher
Springer
external identifiers
  • wos:000328210000016
  • scopus:84888360959
  • pmid:23881513
ISSN
1432-1939
DOI
10.1007/s00442-013-2737-1
project
Evolutionary mechanisms of pheromone divergence in Lepidoptera
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
e6218a20-063c-4b3e-9aa3-77dbd01afc8c (old id 4272445)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 14:23:08
date last changed
2024-05-08 23:27:22
@article{e6218a20-063c-4b3e-9aa3-77dbd01afc8c,
  abstract     = {{Habitat area is an important predictor of spatial variation in animal densities. However, the area often correlates with the quantity of resources within habitats, complicating our understanding of the factors shaping animal distributions. We addressed this problem by investigating densities of insect herbivores in habitat patches with a constant area but varying numbers of plants. Using a mathematical model, predictions of scale-dependent immigration and emigration rates for insects into patches with different densities of host plants were derived. Moreover, a field experiment was conducted where the scaling properties of odour-mediated attraction in relation to the number of odour sources were estimated, in order to derive a prediction of immigration rates of olfactory searchers. The theoretical model predicted that we should expect immigration rates of contact and visual searchers to be determined by patch area, with a steep scaling coefficient, mu = -1. The field experiment suggested that olfactory searchers should show a less steep scaling coefficient, with mu a parts per thousand -0.5. A parameter estimation and analysis of published data revealed a correspondence between observations and predictions, and density-variation among groups could largely be explained by search behaviour. Aphids showed scaling coefficients corresponding to the prediction for contact/visual searchers, whereas moths, flies and beetles corresponded to the prediction for olfactory searchers. As density responses varied considerably among groups, and variation could be explained by a certain trait, we conclude that a general theory of insect responses to habitat heterogeneity should be based on shared traits, rather than a general prediction for all species.}},
  author       = {{Andersson, Petter and Löfstedt, Christer and Hambäck, Peter A.}},
  issn         = {{1432-1939}},
  keywords     = {{Habitat heterogeneity; Species traits; Immigration; Electroantennogram; Scale dependencies}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{4}},
  pages        = {{1333--1344}},
  publisher    = {{Springer}},
  series       = {{Oecologia}},
  title        = {{Insect density-plant density relationships: a modified view of insect responses to resource concentrations}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00442-013-2737-1}},
  doi          = {{10.1007/s00442-013-2737-1}},
  volume       = {{173}},
  year         = {{2013}},
}