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Bird Predation on Concealed Insects in a Reed-dominated Estuarine Tidal Marsh

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Abstract

Insectivorous birds can provide important ecosystem services, including regulating insect populations. The function of insectivorous birds in wetland ecosystems, such as tidal marshes, however, remains largely unexplored. Most studies of top-down interactions between insectivorous birds and herbivorous insects focus on insects in exposed-feeding guilds, but rarely on those in concealed-feeding guilds. In a reed-dominated estuarine tidal marsh, we examined the impacts of insectivorous birds on three groups of insect herbivores with concealed-feeding habits, including scale insects, gall-forming fly larvae, and stem-boring caterpillars. Insectivorous birds attacked 14.0–75.8% of reed shoots infested with scale insects, 13.3–20.7% with gall-forming fly larvae, and 8.0–100.0% with stem-boring caterpillars. Bird predation also significantly changed the abundance of herbivores, reducing scale insects by 36.7–85.9%, gall-forming fly larvae by 33.3–46.0%, and stem-boring caterpillars by 77.0–100.0%. Scale insects and stem-boring caterpillars suffered bird predation during different periods of the growing season. Our study demonstrated significant impacts of bird predation on concealed-feeding insects in a reed-dominant tidal marsh, highlighting the role of insectivorous birds in vegetated wetland ecosystems.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Wei Gao, Chao-Xiong Gao, Jin-Gang Wang, and the staff of Chongxi Wetland Research Center (CWRC) for their assistance in the field. We especially thank Ruthmarie H. Mitsch, The Ohio State University, for language help, and two anonymous reviewers and the editor for valuable comments. The research was financially supported by Shanghai Science & Technology Administration (No.06DZ12301, No. 05DZ12008 and 04DZ12049).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chongxi Wetland Research Center, The State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research, East China Normal University, 3663 N Zhongshan Rd, Shanghai, 200062, People’s Republic of China

    Li-Hu Xiong, Xiang Wu & Jian-Jian Lu

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  1. Li-Hu Xiong
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  2. Xiang Wu
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  3. Jian-Jian Lu
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Correspondence to Jian-Jian Lu.

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Xiong, LH., Wu, X. & Lu, JJ. Bird Predation on Concealed Insects in a Reed-dominated Estuarine Tidal Marsh. Wetlands 30, 1203–1211 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-010-0104-0

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