Quantitative food webs of lepidopteran leafminers and their parasitoids in a Japanese deciduous forest

• Hirao, Toshihide

• Murakami, Masashi

Abstract

Quantitative food webs were constructed to explore the community structure of leaf-mining moths in the family Gracillariidae and their parasitoid wasps in a deciduous forest in Hokkaido, Japan. A whole food web was constructed from data collected from June to October, 2001. In the web, 16 leafminer species on seven tree species were attacked by 58 species of hymenopteran parasitoid; 376 links between leafminers and parasitoids were observed. Leafminers were specialist herbivores, but most parasitoids were generalists. Five webs were constructed for the seasonal prevalence of leafminers over the 1-year period to reveal the temporal dynamics in community structure. Among the seasonal webs, the first web in June was distinctive because two tree species, Japanese umbrella tree Magnolia obovata and Japanese magnolia M. kobus, supported the community. Second to fourth webs from July to September were dominated by the leafminer species on Japanese oak Quercus crispula, and fifth web was marked by that on Carpinus cordata. The extent of potential apparent competition among leafminers was evaluated using quantitative parasitoid overlap diagrams. These diagrams suggested that abundant host species are likely to have large indirect effects on less-abundant species. Moreover, the potential for apparent competition between leafminer species inhabiting the different host tree species can occur, although leafminers sharing the same tree species are prone to interact via shared parasitoids. In this system, particular leafminer species as potential sources of apparent competition can affect other species as sinks, and control whole-community dynamics. Directed apparent competition may potentially occur around oak trees.

Journal

• Ecological Research

  Ecological Research 23 (1), 159-168, 2008-01

  Springer Japan

Keywords

• apparent competition
• community structure
• deciduous forest
• heterogeneity
• source-sink dynamics

Details

• CRID: 1050564288948637184
• NII Article ID: 10020142670
• NII Book ID: AA10667816
• ISSN: 14401703
• ISSN: 09123814
• HANDLE: 2115/33041
• NDL BIB ID: 9338661
• Web Site: http://id.ndl.go.jp/bib/9338661
• Web Site: https://ndlsearch.ndl.go.jp/books/R000000004-I9338661
• Text Lang: en
• Article Type: journal article
• Data Source:
  • IRDB
  • NDL
  • CiNii Articles