Changes in phytophagous insect host ranges following the invasion of their community: Long-term data for fruit flies.

ABSTRACT: The invasion of an established community by new species can trigger changes in community structure. Invasions often occur in phytophagous insect communities, the dynamics of which are driven by the structure of the host assemblage and the presence of competitors. In this study, we investigated how a community established through successive invasions changed over time, taking the last invasion as the reference. The community included four generalist and four specialist species of Tephritidae fruit flies. We analyzed a long-term database recording observed numbers of flies per fruit for each species on 36 host plants, over 18 years, from 1991 to 2009. Community structure before the last invasion by Bactrocera zonata in 2000 was described in relation to host plant phylogeny and resourc

SUBMITTER: Charlery de la Masseliere M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5528217 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature