Wood trait preferences of Neotropical xylophagous beetles (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae).

ABSTRACT: Tree life history strategies are correlated with functional plant traits, such as wood density, moisture content, bark thickness, and nitrogen content; these traits affect the nutrients available to xylophagous insects. Cerambycid beetles feed on substrates that vary in these traits, but little is known about how they affect community composition. The goal of this project is to explore the community composition of two cerambycid subfamilies (Cerambycinae and Lamiinae) according to the wood traits in the wood they eat. In a salvage project conducted adjacent to the Panama Canal, trees were felled and exposed to Cerambycidae for oviposition. Disks from branches of differing thickness from the same plant individuals were used to calculate wood density, moisture content, and bark thickness in

SUBMITTER: Torres CA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11156264 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature