Abstract
Reduced ecological specialization is an emerging, general pattern of ecological networks in fragmented landscapes. In plant–herbivore interactions, reductions in dietary specialization of herbivore communities are consistently associated with fragmented landscapes, but the causes remain poorly understood. We propose several hypothetical bottom–up and top–down mechanisms that may reduce the specificity of plant–herbivore interactions. These include empirically plausible applications and extensions of theory based on reduced habitat patch size and isolation (considered jointly), and habitat edge effects. Bottom–up effects in small, isolated habitat patches may limit availability of suitable hostplants, a constraint that increases with dietary specialization. Poor hostplant quality due to inbreeding in such fragments may especially disadvantage dietary specialist herbivores even when their hostplants are present. Size and isolation of habitat patches may change patterns of predation of herbivores, but whether such putative changes are associated with herbivore dietary specialization should depend on the mobility, size, and diet breadth of predators. Bottom–up edge effects may favor dietary generalist herbivores, yet top–down edge effects may favor dietary specialists owing to reduced predation. An increasingly supported edge effect is trophic ricochets generated by large grazers/browsers, which remove key hostplant species of specialist herbivores. We present empirical evidence that greater deer browsing in small forest fragments disproportionately reduces specialist abundances in lepidopteran assemblages in northeastern USA. Despite indirect evidence for these mechanisms, they have received scant direct testing with experimental approaches at a landscape scale. Identifying their relative contributions to reduced specificity of plant–herbivore interactions in fragmented landscapes is an important research goal.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ali JG, Agrawal AA (2012) Specialist versus generalist insect herbivores and plant defense. Trends Plant Sci 17:293–302. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tplants.2012.02.006
Allen JM, Leininger TJ, Hurd JD, Civco DL, Gelfand AE, Silander JA (2013) Socioeconomics drive woody invasive plant richness in New England, USA through forest fragmentation. Landsc Ecol. 28:1671–1686. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-013-9916-7
Alverson WS, Waller DM, Solheim SL (1988) Forests too deer: edge effects in northern Wisconsin. Conserv Biol 2:348–358. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1523-1739.1988.tb00199.x
Anton C, Zeisset I, Musche M, Durka W, Boomsma JJ, Settele J (2007) Population structure of a large blue butterfly and its specialist parasitoid in a fragmented landscape. Mol Ecol 16:3828–3838. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-294X.2007.03441.x
Askins RA (1993) Population trends in grassland, shrubland, and forest birds in eastern North America. In: Power DM (ed) Current ornithology, vol 11. Plenum Press, New York, pp 1–34
Bascompte J, Solé RV (1998) Effects of habitat destruction in a prey-predator metapopulation model. J Theor Biol 195:383–393. https://doi.org/10.1006/jtbi.1998.0803
Bayard TS, Elphick CS (2010) How area sensitivity in birds is studied. Conserv Biol 24:938–947. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1523-1739.2010.01480.x
Bernays E, Chapman R (1994) Host-plant selection by phytophagous insects. Chapman and Hall, New York
Bowers MD, Schmitt J (2013) Overcrowding leads to lethal oviposition mistakes in the Baltimore Checkerspot, Euphydryas phaeton, Drury (Nymphalidae). J Lepid Soc 67:227–229. https://doi.org/10.18473/lepi.v67i3.a10
Brazaitis G et al (2014) Landscape effect for the Cervidaes Cervidae in human-dominated fragmented forests. Eur J For Res 133:857–869. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10342-014-0802-x
Bregman TP, Sekercioglu CH, Tobias JA (2014) Global patterns and predictors of bird species responses to forest fragmentation: implications for ecosystem function and conservation. Biol Conserv 169:372–383. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2013.11.024
Bressette JW, Beck H, Beauchamp VB (2012) Beyond the browse line: complex cascade effects mediated by white-tailed deer. Oikos 121:1749–1760. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0706.2011.20305.x
Brown LM, Crone EE (2016) Minimum area requirements for an at-risk butterfly based on movement and demography. Conserv Biol 30:103–112. https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.12588
Brown JH, Kodric-Brown A (1977) Turnover rates in insular biogeography: effect of immigration on extinction. Ecology 58:445–449. https://doi.org/10.2307/1935620
Brown LM, Breed GA, Severns PM, Crone EE (2017) Losing a battle but winning the war: moving past preference–performance to understand native herbivore–novel host plant interactions. Oecologia 183:441–453. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-016-3787-y
Burghardt KT, Tallamy DW (2013) Plant origin asymmetrically impacts feeding guilds and life stages driving community structure of herbivorous arthropods. Divers Distrib 19:1553–1565. https://doi.org/10.1111/ddi.12122
Burghardt KT, Tallamy DW, Philips C, Shropshire KJ (2010) Non-native plants reduce abundance, richness, and host specialization in lepidopteran communities. Ecosphere 1:1–22. https://doi.org/10.1890/ES10-00032.1
Burkle LA, Marlin JC, Knight TM (2013) Plant-pollinator interactions over 120 years: loss of species, co-occurrence, and function. Science 339:1611–1615. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1232728
Cagnolo L, Valladares G, Salvo A, Cabido M, Zak M (2009) Habitat fragmentation and species loss across three interacting trophic levels: effects of life-history and food-web traits. Conserv Biol 23:1167–1175. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1523-1739.2009.01214.x
Campbell SA, Thaler JS, Kessler A (2013) Plant chemistry underlies herbivore-mediated inbreeding depression in nature. Ecol Lett 16:252–260. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.12036
Carr DE, Eubanks MD (2002) Inbreeding alters resistance to insect herbivory and host plant quality in Mimulus guttatus (Scrophulariaceae). Evolution 56:22–30. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0014-3820.2002.tb00846.x
Chips MJ et al (2015) The indirect impact of long-term overbrowsing on insects in the Allegheny National Forest region of Pennsylvania. Northeast Nat 22:782–797. https://doi.org/10.1656/045.022.0412
Cirtwill AR, Stouffer DB (2016) Knowledge of predator–prey interactions improves predictions of immigration and extinction in island biogeography. Glob Ecol Biogeogr 25:900–911. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.12332
Clavel J, Julliard R, Devictor V (2011) Worldwide decline of specialist species: toward a global functional homogenization? Front Ecol Environ 9:222–228. https://doi.org/10.1890/080216
Collins C et al (2017) Fragmentation affects plant community composition over time. Ecography 40:119–130. https://doi.org/10.1111/ecog.02607
Connor EF, McCoy ED (1979) The statistics and biology of the species-area relationship. Am Nat 113:791–833. https://doi.org/10.1086/283438
Cornell HV, Hawkins BA (2003) Herbivore responses to plant secondary compounds: a test of phytochemical coevolution theory. Am Nat 161:507–522. https://doi.org/10.1086/368346
Crone EE, Schultz CB (2003) Movement behavior and minimum patch size for butterfly population persistence. In: Boggs CL, Watt WB, Ehrlich PR (eds) Butterflies: ecology and evolution taking flight. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp 561–576
Curtis RJ, Brereton TM, Dennis RL, Carbone C, Isaac NJ (2015) Butterfly abundance is determined by food availability and is mediated by species traits. J Appl Ecol 52:1676–1684. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.12523
Daskin JH, Pringle RM (2016) Does primary productivity modulate the indirect effects of large herbivores? A global meta-analysis. J Anim Ecol 85:857–868. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.12522
De Carvalho Guimarães CD, Viana JPR, Cornelissen T (2014) A meta-analysis of the effects of fragmentation on herbivorous insects. Environ Entomol 43:537–545. https://doi.org/10.1603/EN13190
Delphia CM, De Moraes CM, Stephenson AG, Mescher MC (2009) Inbreeding in horsenettle influences herbivore resistance. Ecol Entomol 34:513–519. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2311.2009.01097.x
Devictor V et al (2010) Defining and measuring ecological specialization. J Appl Ecol 47:15–25. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2664.2009.01744.x
Didham RK, Kapos V, Ewers RM (2012) Rethinking the conceptual foundations of habitat fragmentation research. Oikos 121:161–170. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0706.2011.20273.x
Dyer LA (1995) Tasty generalists and nasty specialists? Antipredator mechanisms in tropical lepidopteran larvae. Ecology 76:1483–1496. https://doi.org/10.2307/1938150
Ewers RM, Banks-Leite C (2013) Fragmentation impairs the microclimate buffering effect of tropical forests. PLoS ONE 8:e58093. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0058093
Ewers R, Didham R (2006) Confounding factors in the detection of species responses to habitat fragmentation. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 81:117–142. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1464793105006949
Faeth SH, Warren PS, Shochat E, Marussich WA (2005) Trophic dynamics in urban communities. Bioscience 55:399–407
Fahrig L (2003) Effects of habitat fragmentation on biodiversity. Annu Rev Ecol Evol Syst 34:487–515. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.34.011802.132419
Fahrig L (2017) Ecological responses to habitat fragmentation per se. Annu Rev Ecol Evol Syst. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-110316-022612
Forister ML, Dyer LA, Singer MS, Stireman JO, Lill JT (2012) Revisiting the evolution of ecological specialization, with emphasis on insect–plant interactions. Ecology 93:981–991. https://doi.org/10.1890/11-0650.1
Fox LR, Morrow PA (1981) Specialization: species property or local phenomenon. Science 211:887–893. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.211.4485.887
Franzén M, Schweiger O, Betzholtz P-E (2012) Species-area relationships are controlled by species traits. PLoS ONE 7:e37359. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0037359
Frost CM, Didham RK, Rand TA, Peralta G, Tylianakis JM (2015) Community-level net spillover of natural enemies from managed to natural forest. Ecology 96:193–202. https://doi.org/10.1890/14-0696.1
Gentry GL, Dyer LA (2002) On the conditional nature of neotropical caterpillar defenses against their natural enemies. Ecology 83:3108–3119. https://doi.org/10.1890/0012-9658(2002)083[3108:OTCNON]2.0.CO;2
Gravel D, Massol F, Canard E, Mouillot D, Mouquet N (2011) Trophic theory of island biogeography. Ecol Lett 14:1010–1016. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1461-0248.2011.01667.x
Gripenberg S, Mayhew PJ, Parnell M, Roslin T (2010) A meta-analysis of preference–performance relationships in phytophagous insects. Ecol Lett 13:383–393. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1461-0248.2009.01433.x
Guerin GR et al (2014) Global change community ecology beyond species-sorting: a quantitative framework based on mediterranean-biome examples. Glob Ecol Biogeogr 23:1062–1072. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.12184
Habeck CW, Schultz AK (2015) Community-level impacts of white-tailed deer on understorey plants in North American forests: a meta-analysis. AoB Plants 7:plv119. https://doi.org/10.1093/aobpla/plv119
Haddad NM, Baum KA (1999) An experimental test of corridor effects on butterfly densities. Ecol Appl 9:623–633. https://doi.org/10.1890/1051-0761(1999)009[0623:AETOCE]2.0.CO;2
Haddad NM et al (2015) Habitat fragmentation and its lasting impact on Earth’s ecosystems. Sci Adv 1:e1500052. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1500052
Hagen M et al (2012) Biodiversity, species interactions and ecological networks in a fragmented world. Adv Ecol Res 46:89–120. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-396992-7.00002-2
Hambäck PA, Englund G (2005) Patch area, population density and the scaling of migration rates: the resource concentration hypothesis revisited. Ecol Lett 8:1057–1065. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1461-0248.2005.00811.x
Hanski I (1999) Metapopulation ecology. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Harper KA et al (2005) Edge influence on forest structure and composition in fragmented landscapes. Conserv Biol 19:768–782. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1523-1739.2005.00045.x
Hayes CN, Winsor JA, Stephenson AG (2004) Inbreeding influences herbivory in Cucurbita pepo ssp. texana (Cucurbitaceae). Oecologia 140:601–608. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-004-1623-2
Holt RD (1996) Food webs in space: an island biogeographic perspective. In: Polis GA, Winemiller KO (eds) Food webs, integration of patterns and dynamics. Chapman & Hall, London, pp 313–323
Holt RD (2010) Toward a trophic island biogeography. In: Losos JB, Ricklefs RE (eds) The theory of island biogeography revisited. Princeton University Press, Princeton, pp 143–185
Holt RD, Lawton JH, Polis GA, Martinez ND (1999) Trophic rank and the species-area relationship. Ecology 80:1495–1504. https://doi.org/10.1890/0012-9658(1999)080[1495:TRATSA]2.0.CO;2
Honnay O, Jacquemyn H, Bossuyt B, Hermy M (2005) Forest fragmentation effects on patch occupancy and population viability of herbaceous plant species. New Phytol 166:723–736. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8137.2005.01352.x
Horsley SB, Stout SL, DeCalesta DS (2003) White-tailed deer impact on the vegetation dynamics of a northern hardwood forest. Ecol Appl 13:98–118. https://doi.org/10.1890/1051-0761(2003)013[0098:WTDIOT]2.0.CO;2
Huffaker C (1958) Experimental studies on predation: dispersion factors and predator-prey oscillations. Hilgardia 27:343–383. https://doi.org/10.3733/hilg.v27n14p343
Hull-Sanders HM, Eubanks MD (2005) Plant defense theory provides insight into interactions involving inbred plants and insect herbivores. Ecology 86:897–904. https://doi.org/10.1890/04-0935
Hunter MD (2002) Landscape structure, habitat fragmentation, and the ecology of insects. Agric For Entomol 4:159–166. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1461-9563.2002.00152.x
Hunter MD (2016) The phytochemical landscape: linking trophic interactions and nutrient dynamics. Princeton University Press, Princeton
Jedlicka JA, Greenberg R, Letourneau DK (2011) Avian conservation practices strengthen ecosystem services in California vineyards. PLoS ONE 6:e27347. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0027347
Johst K, Schöps K (2003) Persistence and conservation of a consumer–resource metapopulation with local overexploitation of resources. Biol Conserv 109:57–65
Jorge LR et al (2017) Phylogenetic trophic specialization: a robust comparison of herbivorous guilds. Oecologia 185:551–559. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-017-3980-7
Kareiva PM, Shigesada N (1983) Analyzing insect movement as a correlated random walk. Oecologia 56:234–238. https://doi.org/10.1007/Bf00379695
Kittelson PM et al (2015) How functional traits, herbivory, and genetic diversity interact in Echinacea: implications for fragmented populations. Ecology 96:1877–1886. https://doi.org/10.1890/14-1687.1
Kluger EC, Berlocher SH, Tooker JF, Hanks LM (2011) Consequences of habitat fragmentation for the Prairie-Endemic Weevil Haplorhynchites aeneus. Environ Entomol 40:1388–1396. https://doi.org/10.1603/EN11054
Kolb A, Diekmann M (2005) Effects of life-history traits on responses of plant species to forest fragmentation. Conserv Biol 19:929–938. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1523-1739.2005.00065.x
Kondoh M (2003) Habitat fragmentation resulting in overgrazing by herbivores. J Theor Biol 225:453–460. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-5193(03)00279-0
Kruess A, Tscharntke T (1994) Habitat fragmentation, species loss, and biological control. Science 264:1581–1584. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.264.5165.1581
Lande R (1988) Genetics and demography in biological conservation. Science 241:1455–1460. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.3420403
Lankau RA (2007) Specialist and generalist herbivores exert opposing selection on a chemical defense. New Phytol 175:176–184. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8137.2007.02090.x
Leimu R, Vergeer P, Angeloni F, Ouborg N (2010) Habitat fragmentation, climate change, and inbreeding in plants. Ann N Y Acad Sci 1195:84–98. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-6632.2010.05450.x
Liao J, Bearup D, Blasius B (2017) Diverse responses of species to landscape fragmentation in a simple food chain. J Anim Ecol 86:1169–1178. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.12702
Lind EM, Myron EP, Giaccai J, Parker JD (2012) White-tailed deer alter specialist and generalist insect herbivory through plant traits. Environ Entomol 41:1409–1416. https://doi.org/10.1603/EN12094
MacArthur RH, Wilson EO (1967) The theory of island biogeography. Princeton University Press, Princeton
Mäntylä E, Klemola T, Laaksonen T (2011) Birds help plants: a meta-analysis of top-down trophic cascades caused by avian predators. Oecologia 165:143–151. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-010-1774-2
Martinson HM, Fagan WF (2014) Trophic disruption: a meta-analysis of how habitat fragmentation affects resource consumption in terrestrial arthropod systems. Ecol Lett 17:1178–1189. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.12305
Massé A, Côté SD (2012) Linking habitat heterogeneity to space use by large herbivores at multiple scales: from habitat mosaics to forest canopy openings. For Ecol Manage 285:67–76. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2012.07.039
Miyashita T, Suzuki M, Ando D, Fujita G, Ochiai K, Asada M (2008) Forest edge creates small-scale variation in reproductive rate of sika deer. Popul Ecol 50:111–120. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10144-007-0068-y
Mols CMM, Visser ME (2002) Great tits can reduce caterpillar damage in apple orchards. J Appl Ecol 39:888–899. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2664.2002.00761.x
Mooney KA, Gruner DS, Barber NA, Van Bael SA, Philpott SM, Greenberg R (2010) Interactions among predators and the cascading effects of vertebrate insectivores on arthropod communities and plants. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 107:7335–7340. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1001934107
Mooney KA, Pratt RT, Singer MS (2012) The tri-trophic interactions hypothesis: interactive effects of host plant quality, diet breadth and natural enemies on herbivores. PLoS ONE 7:e34403. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0034403
Morante-Filho JC, Arroyo-Rodríguez V, Lohbeck M, Tscharntke T, Faria D (2016) Tropical forest loss and its multitrophic effects on insect herbivory. Ecology 97:3315–3325. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.1592
Moreira X, Abdala-Roberts L, Rasmann S, Castagneyrol B, Mooney KA (2016) Plant diversity effects on insect herbivores and their natural enemies: current thinking, recent findings, and future directions. Curr Opin Insect Sci 14:1–7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cois.2015.10.003
Morrison JA, Brown LM (2004) Effect of herbivore exclosure caging on the invasive plant Aliaria petiolata in three southeastern New York forests. Bartonia 62:25–43
Murphy SM, Battocletti AH, Tinghitella RM, Wimp GM, Ries L (2016) Complex community and evolutionary responses to habitat fragmentation and habitat edges: what can we learn from insect science? Curr Opin Insect Sci 14:61–65. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cois.2016.01.007
Nieminen M, Nouhuys S (2017) The roles of trophic interactions, competition and landscape in determining metacommunity structure of a seed-feeding weevil and its parasitoids. Ann Zool Fenn 54:83–95. https://doi.org/10.5735/086.054.0109
Nuttle T, Yerger EH, Stoleson SH, Ristau TE (2011) Legacy of top-down herbivore pressure ricochets back up multiple trophic levels in forest canopies over 30 years. Ecosphere 2:1–11. https://doi.org/10.1890/ES10-00108.1
Öckinger E et al (2010) Life-history traits predict species responses to habitat area and isolation: a cross-continental synthesis. Ecol Lett 13:969–979. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1461-0248.2010.01487.x
Ouborg NJ, Vergeer P, Mix C (2006) The rough edges of the conservation genetics paradigm for plants. J Ecol 94:1233–1248. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2745.2006.01167.x
Piechnik DA, Lawler SP, Martinez ND (2008) Food-web assembly during a classic biogeographic study: species’“trophic breadth” corresponds to colonization order. Oikos 117:665–674. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0030-1299.2008.15915.x
Poulin R, Krasnov BR, Mouillot D (2011) Host specificity in phylogenetic and geographic space. Trends Parasitol 27:355–361. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pt.2011.05.003
Rand TA, Tylianakis JM, Tscharntke T (2006) Spillover edge effects: the dispersal of agriculturally subsidized insect natural enemies into adjacent natural habitats. Ecol Lett 9:603–614. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1461-0248.2006.00911.x
Ridley CE, Hangelbroek HH, Wagenius S, Stanton-Geddes J, Shaw RG (2011) The effect of plant inbreeding and stoichiometry on Interactions with herbivores in nature: Echinacea angustifolia and its specialist aphid. PLoS ONE 6:e24762. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0024762
Ries L, Debinski DM (2001) Butterfly responses to habitat edges in the highly fragmented prairies of Central Iowa. J Anim Ecol 70:840–852. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.0021-8790.2001.00546.x
Ries L, Sisk TD (2004) A predictive model of edge effects. Ecology 85:2917–2926. https://doi.org/10.1890/03-8021
Ries L, Fletcher RJ Jr, Battin J, Sisk TD (2004) Ecological responses to habitat edges: mechanisms, models, and variability explained. Annu Rev Ecol Evol Syst 35:491–522
Ries L, Murphy SM, Wimp GM, Fletcher RJ (2017) Closing persistent gaps in knowledge about edge ecology. Curr Landsc Ecol Rep 2:30–41. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40823-017-0022-4
Robbins CS, Dawson DK, Dowell BA (1989) Habitat area requirements of breeding forest birds of the middle Atlantic states. Wildl Monogr 103:3–34
Roland J, Taylor PD (1997) Insect parasitoid species respond to forest structure at different spatial scales. Nature 386:710
Rossetti MR, Tscharntke T, Aguilar R, Batáry P (2017) Responses of insect herbivores and herbivory to habitat fragmentation: a hierarchical meta-analysis. Ecol Lett 20:264–272. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.12723
Ryall KL, Fahrig L (2005) Habitat loss decreases predator–prey ratios in a pine-bark beetle system. Oikos 110:265–270. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0030-1299.2005.13691.x
Ryall KL, Fahrig L (2006) Response of predators to loss and fragmentation of prey habitat: a review of theory. Ecology 87:1086–1093. https://doi.org/10.1890/0012-9658(2006)87[1086:ROPTLA]2.0.CO;2
Schtickzelle N, Baguette M (2003) Behavioural responses to habitat patch boundaries restrict dispersal and generate emigration–patch area relationships in fragmented landscapes. J Anim Ecol 72:533–545. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2656.2003.00723.x
Schüepp C, Uzman D, Herzog F, Entling MH (2014) Habitat isolation affects plant–herbivore–enemy interactions on cherry trees. Biol Control 71:56–64. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocontrol.2014.01.007
Simberloff DS, Wilson EO (1969) Experimental zoogeography of islands: the colonization of empty islands. Ecology 50:278–296. https://doi.org/10.2307/1934856
Singer MC, Thomas CD, Parmesan C (1993) Rapid human-induced evolution of insect–host associations. Nature 366:681–683. https://doi.org/10.1038/366681a0
Singer MS, Lichter-Marck IH, Farkas TE, Aaron E, Whitney KD, Mooney KA (2014) Herbivore diet breadth mediates the cascading effects of carnivores in food webs. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 111:9521–9526. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1401949111
Stamps JA, Buechner M, Krishnan VV (1987) The effects of edge permeability and habitat geometry on emigration from patches of habitat. Am Nat 129:533–552. https://doi.org/10.1086/284656
Steffan-Dewenter I, Tscharntke T (2000) Butterfly community structure in fragmented habitats. Ecol Lett 3:449–456. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1461-0248.2000.00175.x
Stireman JO, Singer MS (2003) Determinants of parasitoid–host associations: insights from a natural tachinid–lepidopteran community. Ecology 84:296–310. https://doi.org/10.1890/0012-9658(2003)084[0296:DOPHAI]2.0.CO;2
Swihart RK, Feng Z, Slade NA, Mason DM, Gehring TM (2001) Effects of habitat destruction and resource supplementation in a predator-prey metapopulation model. J Theor Biol 210:287–303. https://doi.org/10.1006/jtbi.2001.2304
Tallamy DW, Shropshire KJ (2009) Ranking lepidopteran use of native versus introduced plants. Conserv Biol 23:941–947. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1523-1739.2009.01202.x
Tscharntke T, Brandl R (2004) Plant-insect interactions in fragmented landscapes. Annu Rev Entomol 49:405–430. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.ento.49.061802.123339
Tscharntke T, Steffan-Dewenter I, Kruess A, Thies C (2002) Contribution of small habitat fragments to conservation of insect communities of grassland–cropland landscapes. Ecol Appl 12:354–363. https://doi.org/10.1890/1051-0761(2002)012[0354:COSHFT]2.0.CO;2
Tscharntke T et al (2012) Landscape moderation of biodiversity patterns and processes-eight hypotheses. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 87:661–685. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-185X.2011.00216.x
Valladares G, Salvo A, Cagnolo L (2006) Habitat fragmentation effects on trophic processes of insect-plant food webs. Conserv Biol 20:212–217. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1523-1739.2006.00337.x
Valladares G, Cagnolo L, Salvo A (2012) Forest fragmentation leads to food web contraction. Oikos 121:299–305. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0706.2011.19671.x
Van Bael SA et al (2008) Birds as predators in tropical agroforestry systems. Ecology 89:928–934. https://doi.org/10.1890/06-1976.1
Vidal MC, Murphy SM (2018) Bottom-up vs. top-down effects on terrestrial insect herbivores: a meta-analysis. Ecol Lett 21:138–150. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.12874
Wagner D (2005) Caterpillars of eastern North America. Princeton field guides. Princeton University Press, Princeton
Wagner DL (2011) Owlet caterpillars of eastern North America. Princeton University Press, Princeton
Wagner D, Ferguson D, McCabe T, Reardon R (2002) Geometroid caterpillars of northeastern and Appalachian forests. USFS Technology Transfer Bulletin. FHTET-2001-10, Morgantown, WV
Wheatall L, Nuttle T, Yerger E (2013) Indirect effects of pandemic deer overabundance inferred from caterpillar-host relations. Conserv Biol 27:1107–1116. https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.12077
Wimp GM, Murphy SM, Lewis D, Ries L (2011) Do edge responses cascade up or down a multi-trophic food web? Ecol Lett 14:863–870. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1461-0248.2011.01656.x
Wirth R, Meyer ST, Leal IR, Tabarelli M (2008) Plant herbivore interactions at the forest edge. Progress in botany. Springer, New York, pp 423–448
Yachi S, Loreau M (1999) Biodiversity and ecosystem productivity in a fluctuating environment: the insurance hypothesis. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 96:1463–1468
Zvereva EL, Kozlov MV (2016) The costs and effectiveness of chemical defenses in herbivorous insects: a meta-analysis. Ecol Monogr 86:107–124. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0911.1
Acknowledgements
We thank Miranda Davis, Howard Kilpatrick, Sabrina Strom, Crystal Wright, Quinn Brencher, and Daniel Grogan for their contributions to the ideas and collection of data presented in this paper. This work was funded by the National Science Foundation (Grant Number DEB-1557086). We are grateful to Colin Orians for inviting this paper. The paper was substantially improved by suggestions from Dr. Orians and three anonymous reviewers. The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
RB, MSS, DLW, and CSE conceived the idea and obtained funding; RB and MSS drafted the initial manuscript, and LMB, CSE, and DLW contributed sections and revisions; and RB performed statistical analysis and RB and MSS developed the figures.
Corresponding author
Additional information
Communicated by Colin Mark Orians.
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bagchi, R., Brown, L.M., Elphick, C.S. et al. Anthropogenic fragmentation of landscapes: mechanisms for eroding the specificity of plant–herbivore interactions. Oecologia 187, 521–533 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-018-4115-5
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-018-4115-5