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Is feeding on mosses by groundhoppers in the genus Tetrix (Insecta: Orthoptera) opportunistic or selective?

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Abstract

Groundhoppers are considered to be detrito-bryophagous, and moss phyllodes represent a main food consumed by all studied species. We studied the food biology of two groundhoppers: the stenotopic habitat specialist Tetrix ceperoi (Bolivar, 1887) and the eurytopic T. tenuicornis (Sahlberg, 1893). These species occurred syntopically in an abandoned sand pit in the Czech Republic. The dietary preferences of the two species were very similar, with detritus being the dominant component, followed by mosses and other kinds of organic matter. The eurytopic T. tenuicornis consumed a greater diversity of mosses than the stenotopic T. ceperoi. The most frequently consumed mosses were the dominant species at the locality (Barbula spp., Bryum caespiticium, and Ceratodon purpureus), but some species-specific preferences were evident in the consumption of other moss species. To determine whether these groundhoppers mainly consumed mosses to obtain the water in their tissues, we compared the food composition at two sites that differed considerably in water availability. A selective consumption of mosses according to the water availability at the sites was evident. At the dry site, groundhoppers frequently consumed mosses that are simultaneously more tolerant to desiccation and nutritionally richer (species in the genera Barbula and Ceratodon) than the other mosses. Our results indicate that although groundhoppers generally consume those mosses that are most available, they do show some preference for mosses according to their nutritional quality and according to their ability to retain water under dry conditions.

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Acknowledgments

The study was supported by Grant No. 206/07/0811 of the Czech Science Foundation (GACR) and by Project CZ.1.05/2.1.00/03.0100 (IET), which was financed by the Structural Funds of the European Union. The study was also supported by Project LO1208 of the National Feasibility Programme I of the Czech Republic. The authors thank Dr. Bruce Jaffee (USA) for linguistic and editorial improvements. We also thank two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments.

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  1. Department of Biology and Ecology and Institute of Environmental Technologies, Faculty of Science, University of Ostrava, 710 00, Ostrava, Czech Republic

    Kateřina Kuřavová, Šárka Grucmanová, Zuzana Filipcová, Vítězslav Plášek, Pavel Drozd & Petr Kočárek

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  1. Kateřina Kuřavová
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  2. Šárka Grucmanová
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Correspondence to Petr Kočárek.

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Kuřavová, K., Grucmanová, Š., Filipcová, Z. et al. Is feeding on mosses by groundhoppers in the genus Tetrix (Insecta: Orthoptera) opportunistic or selective?. Arthropod-Plant Interactions 11, 35–43 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11829-016-9461-9

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