Constant herbivory rates and plant-herbivore interactions along a resource availability gradient in South African fynbos.

ABSTRACT: Plant-herbivore interactions are important for almost all terrestrial ecosystems, but little is known about how herbivory and the specialization of these interactions change with the resource availability provided by host plant communities and time since disturbance. In fire-prone scrublands of the South African Cape Floristic Region, we studied interaction networks between 20 Protea shrub species and ten herbivorous insect species that consume seeds inside Protea cones during their larval stage. We studied these interactions at 18 sites that differed widely in plant resource availability (protea cone mass per hectare) and time since the last fire event. We sampled 1173 protea cones, identified the herbivores in each cone, and calculated herbivory rate (the proportion of infested cones), h

SUBMITTER: Neu A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12507943 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature