The relationship between host plant traits and biodiversity across three sympatric seed‐feeding tri‐trophic systems in a tropical region of Brazil

• Published in: Insect conservation and diversity Vol. 16; no. 5; pp. 712 - 724
• Main Authors: Oliveira, Tamires Camila Talamonte, Morales‐Silva, Tiago, Brandão‐Dias, Pedro Ferreira Pinto, Egan, Scott Patrick, Zaldívar‐Riverón, Alejandro, Oliveira, Gabriella Melo, Silva, Victor Hugo Duarte, Faria, Lucas Del Bianco
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chichester, UK John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 01.09.2023; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: Biodiversity; Biological control; conservation biology; DNA barcoding; Fruits; Herbivores; Host plants; Indigenous species; Inga vera; Lasioderma serricorne; Leucaena leucocephala; Parasitoids; pest reservoir; Seeds; Senna multijuga; Sympatric populations; Tri-trophic interactions; Tropical environment; Brazil
• ISSN: 1752-458X; 1752-4598
• DOI: 10.1111/icad.12669

We describe the diverse community of insect herbivores and parasitoids associated with the seeds and fruits of three sympatric Fabaceae species in Lavras, Minas Gerais, Brazil: Inga vera, Senna multijuga and Leucaena leucocephala. A total of 5353 individual insects, representing 77 different species, were identified via morphology and DNA barcoding. The non‐native L. leucocephala had the least diverse natural enemy community (N = 17 species), while two native species, I. vera and S. multijuga, were more diverse (N = 40 and N = 24 species, respectively). Individuals from the insect order Hymenoptera, a group dominated by parasitoid wasps, were the most diverse recovered from our samples in all hosts. Additionally, individual herbivore and parasitoid species were more likely to be found on a single host, with only four out of the 77 species found in more than one plant species. This includes the generalist agricultural pest herbivore, Lasioderma serricorne, found in two species, and three parasitoids connecting native S. multijuga and non‐native L. leucocephala communities, hinting at recent host shifts. Furthermore, different host plant traits had complex effects on the herbivore and parasitoid communities, where seed number per fruit promoted a propagating effect on the abundance and richness at both higher trophic levels, whereas seed and fruit weight did not. We highlight the importance of including parasitoids in insect community studies because they are highly diverse and provide important ecosystem services. Additional study of the biology, behaviour and distributions of parasitoids would be advantageous to inform conservation and biological control. We investigated and characterised the rich community of insect herbivores and parasitoids associated with the seeds and fruits of three simpatric Fabaceae species in Brazil. In contrast to the native plants, the non‐native species exhibited a less diverse natural enemy community, while the two native species displayed higher diversity levels. Our findings demonstrate that insect species were predominantly associated with a single host (73 out of 77 species), and we observed that fruits with a higher seed abundance positively influenced insect abundance and species richness. We emphasise the critical role of including parasitoids in insect community studies due to their high diversity, often overlooked, and significant contributions to ecosystem services.