Abstract
Species loss of primary producers is likely to affect processes on other trophic levels. We studied consumption and individual performance of the generalist herbivore Parapleurus alliaceus (Orthoptera) in relation to the species richness of primary producers. Adult grasshoppers were caged and left to feed for 2 weeks on experimental grassland communities ranging in plant species richness from one, two, four, eight to 32 species. Low plant diversity had a negative effect on both plant community biomass and on biomass gain of female grasshoppers, feeding to produce eggs (male grasshoppers did not gain biomass during the feeding period). This was surprising because plots with high plant diversity had a low proportion of grass biomass and grasshoppers preferentially selected grasses, leading to a greater exploitation of grasses in experimental communities of higher diversity. Thus, the concurrent increase in non-grass species in the diet from these high-diversity communities must have been beneficial to the generalist herbivore. In addition to the positive effects of plant diversity, the presence of legumes in a mixture with grasses further enhanced the biomass gain of grasshoppers at a given level of diversity. These findings suggest that plant species loss may lead to shifts in herbivore population sizes, reducing those of generalists and benefiting specialists of the remaining plant species. Our results further suggest that generalist herbivores, by having feeding preferences, can also change the relative abundances of plant species with different functional characteristics. This may feedback on both composition and diversity of plant communities.
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Acknowledgements
We are grateful to Jasmin Joshi and Enrique Chaneton for advice with the experimental set up and to members of the BIODEPTH project for valuable suggestions. We thank Markus Fischer, Enrique Chaneton, Jasmin Joshi, Julia Koricheva for helpful comments on earlier versions of the manuscript and various assistants for help in the field. The Swiss Federal Office for Education and Science funded this project (project EU-1311 to B. Schmid).
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Pfisterer, A.B., Diemer, M. & Schmid, B. Dietary shift and lowered biomass gain of a generalist herbivore in species-poor experimental plant communities. Oecologia 135, 234–241 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-002-1169-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-002-1169-0