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Beta-diversity of lepidopteran larval communities in a Japanese temperate forest: effects of phenology and tree species

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Ecological Research

Abstract

The specialization of herbivores among tree species is poorly understood despite its fundamental importance as a factor regulating diversity. To examine the effect of tree species on larval community structure, the larval communities in 10 temperate deciduous tree species that differed in leaf emergence pattern (flush- vs. intermediate-type) were seasonally surveyed. The newly developed soft, nitrogen-rich leaves of all species became tough and nitrogen-poor as the season progressed. Following the changes in leaf quality, two distinct seasonal lepidopteran larval communities emerged, with a marked turnover in early July. The beta diversity, or dissimilarity, of species composition in the larval communities among tree species was higher in summer than in spring. These results imply that the lepidopteran larval communities as a whole were supported by alpha diversity in spring and by beta diversity in summer, demonstrating that the plant diversity of this forest could support a caterpillar community. We examined the importance of spatio-temporal variations in leaf quality within and among tree species in promoting herbivore diversity, although other factors, such as tree species phylogeny and predators, may also have a large effect on lepidopteran larval communities.

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Acknowledgements

We thank staff members and graduate students at the Tomakomai Research Station, Hokkaido University, for their support, especially T. Ishii for logistical support and K. Yoshida, H. Asano, and K. Ono for identification of invertebrate specimens. Financial support was provided by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Science, Sports, and Culture (15207008).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tomakomai Research Station, Hokkaido University Forests, Takaoka, Tomakomai, Hokkaido, 053-0035, Japan

    Masashi Murakami & Toshihide Hirao

  2. Faculty of Agriculture, Kochi University, Otsu 200 Monobe, Nankoku-shi, Kochi, 783-8502, Japan

    Tomoaki Ichie

Authors
  1. Masashi Murakami
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  2. Tomoaki Ichie
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  3. Toshihide Hirao
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Masashi Murakami.

Appendix

Appendix

Table 2 List of lepidoptera collected
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Murakami, M., Ichie, T. & Hirao, T. Beta-diversity of lepidopteran larval communities in a Japanese temperate forest: effects of phenology and tree species. Ecol Res 23, 179–187 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11284-007-0353-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11284-007-0353-4

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