Host phylogeny and nutrient content drive galler diversity and abundance on willows

0476557 - BC 2018 RIV GB eng J - Journal Article
Volf, Martin - Kadlec, J. - Butterill, Philip T. - Novotný, Vojtěch
Host phylogeny and nutrient content drive galler diversity and abundance on willows.
Ecological Entomology. Roč. 42, č. 5 (2017), s. 685-688. ISSN 0307-6946. E-ISSN 1365-2311
R&D Projects: GA ČR GB14-36098G
Grant - others:GA JU(CZ) 04-152/2016/P
Institutional support: RVO:60077344
Keywords : defensive traits * herbivores * Salix
OECD category: Ecology
Impact factor: 2.244, year: 2017
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/een.12420/abstract

Different groups of specialised herbivores often exhibit highly variable responses to host plant traits and phylogeny. Gall-forming insects and mites on willows are highly adapted to their hosts and represent one of the richest communities of gallers associated with a single genus of host plants.
The present study evaluated the effects of host plant secondary metabolites (salicylates, flavonoids, condensed tannins), physical traits (trichome density), nutrient content (N:C) and phylogeny on the abundance and richness of gall-forming arthropods associated with eight willow species and Populus tremula.
Galler abundance was affected by N:C rather than by willow defensive traits or phylogeny, suggesting that gallers respond differently to host plant traits than to less specialised guilds, such as leaf-chewing insects. None of the studied defensive traits had a significant effect on gall abundance. Gall morphospecies richness was correlated with the host phylogeny, mainly with the nodes representing the inner division of the willow subgenus Vetrix. This suggests that the radiation of some willow taxa could have been important for the speciation of gallers associated with willows.
In conclusion, it is shown that whereas willow traits, such as nutrient content, appeared to affect abundances of gallers, it is probably willow radiation that drives galler speciation.

Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0274679