Seasonally dependent relationship between insect herbivores and host plant density in Jatropha nana, a tropical perennial herb.

ABSTRACT: The fact that plant spatial aggregation patterns shape insect-herbivore communities in a variety of ways has resulted in a large body of literature on the subject. The landmark resource concentration hypothesis predicts that density of insect herbivores per plant will increase as host plant density increases. I examined this prediction across temporal samplings using Jatropha nana and the associated specialist insect herbivores as a system. Through 12 field samplings, I modelled the effect of host plant density on insect-herbivore loads. The initial samplings (2-3) provided evidence for the resource concentration hypothesis, with insect loads increasing with increasing host plant density, whereas the later samplings (4-5, 7-11) showed the opposite; a resource dilution pattern with a

SUBMITTER: Nerlekar AN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6124573 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature