Herbivores on native and exotic Senecio plants : is host switching related to plant novelty and insect diet breadth under field conditions?
Castells, Eva (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Farmacologia, de Terapèutica i de Toxicologia)
Morante, Maria (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Farmacologia, de Terapèutica i de Toxicologia)
Goula, Marta (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Ciència Política i de Dret Públic)
Pérez Hidalgo, Nicolás
Dantart, Jordi
Escolà, Anna (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Farmacologia, de Terapèutica i de Toxicologia)

Date:	2014
Abstract:	1. Native herbivores can establish novel interactions with alien plants after invasion. Nevertheless, it is unclear whether these new associations are quantitatively significant compared to the assemblages with native flora under natural conditions. 2. Herbivores associated with two exotic plants, namely Senecio inaequidens and S. pterophorus, and two coexisting natives, namely S. vulgaris and S. lividus, were surveyed in a replicated long-term field study to ascertain whether the plant herbivore assemblages in mixed communities are related to plant novelty and insect diet breadth. 3. Native herbivores used exotic Senecio as their host plants. Of the 19 species of Lepidoptera, Diptera, and Hemiptera found in this survey, 14 were associated with the exotic Senecio plants. Most of these species were polyphagous, yet we found a higher number of individuals with a narrow diet breadth, which is contrary to the assumption that host switching mainly occurs in generalist herbivores. 4. The Senecio specialist Sphenella marginata (Diptera: Tephritidae) was the most abundant and widely distributed insect species (ca. 80% of the identified specimens). Sphenella was associated with S. lividus, S. vulgaris and S. inaequidens and was not found on S. pterophorus. The presence of native plant congeners in the invaded community did not ensure an instantaneous ecological fitting between insects and alien plants. 5. We conclude that novel associations between native herbivores and introduced Senecio plants are common under natural conditions. Plant novelty is, however, not the only predictor of herbivore abundance due to the complexity of natural conditions.
Grants:	Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación CGL2008-02421/BOS Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación CGL2011-29205
Rights:	Tots els drets reservats.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Biotic Resistance hypothesis ; Diet breadth ; Enemy Release hypothesis ; Exotic plants ; Host switching ; Insect performance ; Plant herbivore interactions ; Senecio
Published in:	Insect Conservation and Diversity, 2014 , ISSN 1752-458X

DOI: 10.1111/icad.12064

33 p, 314.5 KB

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Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Health sciences and biosciences > Chemical Ecology and Toxicology Lab
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles