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Low host specificity in species-rich assemblages of xylem- and phloem-feeding herbivores (Auchenorrhyncha) in a New Guinea lowland rain forest

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 September 2013

Francesca F. Dem ,
Alan J.A. Stewart ,
Amos Gibson ,
George D. Weiblen  and
Vojtech Novotny
Francesca F. Dem*
Affiliation:
New Guinea Binatang Research Centre, PO Box 604, Madang, Papua New Guinea Environmental Futures Centre, Griffith University, 170 Kessels Road, Qld 4111, Australia
Alan J.A. Stewart
Affiliation:
School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9QG, UK
Amos Gibson
Affiliation:
New Guinea Binatang Research Centre, PO Box 604, Madang, Papua New Guinea
George D. Weiblen
Affiliation:
Department of Plant Sciences, University of Minnesota, 250 Biological Sciences Centre, 1445 Gortner Avenue, St Paul, MN 55108–1095, USA
Vojtech Novotny
Affiliation:
New Guinea Binatang Research Centre, PO Box 604, Madang, Papua New Guinea Biology Centre, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic and Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, Branisovska 31, 370 05 Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic
*
1Corresponding author. Email: fdemeric@gmail.com
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Abstract:

We documented one of the most species-rich assemblages of tropical rain-forest Auchenorrhyncha, comprising 402 phloem- and xylem-feeding species, by sampling adults from forest vegetation. Further, we reared 106 species from larvae sampled on 14 plant species. Both xylem- and phloem-feeding guilds exhibited wide host-plant ranges, as 74% of species fed on more than one plant family. In comparison, using data extracted from the temperate-zone literature, phloem-feeders exhibited lower host specificity in Papua New Guinea than in Germany, because in Papua New Guinea they were dominated by generalist Fulgoroidea while in Germany by specialist Membracoidea. The similarity of Auchenorrhyncha assemblages from different plant species was unrelated to the phylogenetic distance between their hosts. Host specificity, abundance and species composition of Auchenorrhyncha assemblages were unrelated to the optimum of their host plant species on succession gradient from secondary to primary forest. Higher host specificity did not lead to greater species richness in Auchenorrhyncha assemblages feeding on different plant species, but the number of species feeding on a particular plant species was a strong predictor of the Auchenorrhyncha abundance on that plant. These patterns suggest that Auchenorrhyncha assemblages on these plant species are not saturated with species and determined by division of limited resources among competitors, but instead are dependent on the number of colonizers from the regional species pool.

Keywords

food webHemipterahost specializationlatitudinal diversity gradientleafhoppersplanthoppers
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 29 , Issue 6 , November 2013 , pp. 467 - 476
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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