Nutrient dilution and climate cycles underlie declines in a dominant insect herbivore.

ABSTRACT: Evidence for global insect declines mounts, increasing our need to understand underlying mechanisms. We test the nutrient dilution (ND) hypothesis-the decreasing concentration of essential dietary minerals with increasing plant productivity-that particularly targets insect herbivores. Nutrient dilution can result from increased plant biomass due to climate or CO₂ enrichment. Additionally, when considering long-term trends driven by climate, one must account for large-scale oscillations including El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), and Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO). We combine long-term datasets of grasshopper abundance, climate, plant biomass, and end-of-season foliar elemental content to examine potential drivers of abundance cycles and tr

SUBMITTER: Welti EAR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7132292 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature