TY - JOUR
T1 - Endophytic insect communities of two prairie perennials (Asteraceae: Silphium spp.)
AU - Tooker, John F.
AU - Hanks, Lawrence M.
N1 - Funding Information:
Jackman (Texas A&M University), Z. Liu (Field Museum, Chicago), J.W. Kim (University of California, Riverside), S.L. Heydon (Bohart Museum, University of California, Davis), and A.R. Deans (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign [UIUC]). Thanks also to S. Aref and the Illinois Statistics Office, UIUC, for advice on statistical analyses. We also thank the Illinois Nature Preserv es Commission, Red Bison (a Univ ersity of Illinois Registered Student Organization), and Steve Buck and the Committee of Natural Areas of the School of Integrative Biology, UIUC, for research access to sites. This work was in partial fulfillment of a Ph.D. degree for J.F.T. from UIUC. Funding was provided by a Sigma Xi Grant-in-Aid of Research and a Summer Research Grant from the Program in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology in the School of Integrative Biology, UIUC.
PY - 2004
Y1 - 2004
N2 - Little is known of the biology of most insects that are endemic to prairie ecosystems of North America, with the exception of large and conspicuous species. In particular, species that are sequestered within plant tissues are commonly overlooked. In this paper, we assess the biodiversity of endophytic insects that inhabit stems of Silphium laciniatum L. and S. terebinthinaceum Jacquin (Asteraceae), endemic plants of tallgrass prairies. Endophytic herbivores, gall wasps Antistrophus rufus Gillette and A. minor Gillette (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) and stem-boring larvae of the beetle Mordellistena aethiops Smith (Coleoptera: Mordellidae) were attacked by 10 species of natural enemies. We report new host plant associations for herbivores, and new host insect associations for parasitoids. The two plant species differed significantly in their densities of gall wasps and the vertical dispersion of galls within stems. Interactions within and between trophic levels attest to the biodiversity of endophytic insect communities, and the specialized nature of these insects suggests they are highly vulnerable to habitat conservation practices that involve destruction of dead vegetation.
AB - Little is known of the biology of most insects that are endemic to prairie ecosystems of North America, with the exception of large and conspicuous species. In particular, species that are sequestered within plant tissues are commonly overlooked. In this paper, we assess the biodiversity of endophytic insects that inhabit stems of Silphium laciniatum L. and S. terebinthinaceum Jacquin (Asteraceae), endemic plants of tallgrass prairies. Endophytic herbivores, gall wasps Antistrophus rufus Gillette and A. minor Gillette (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) and stem-boring larvae of the beetle Mordellistena aethiops Smith (Coleoptera: Mordellidae) were attacked by 10 species of natural enemies. We report new host plant associations for herbivores, and new host insect associations for parasitoids. The two plant species differed significantly in their densities of gall wasps and the vertical dispersion of galls within stems. Interactions within and between trophic levels attest to the biodiversity of endophytic insect communities, and the specialized nature of these insects suggests they are highly vulnerable to habitat conservation practices that involve destruction of dead vegetation.
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U2 - 10.1023/B:BIOC.0000048449.17573.9f
DO - 10.1023/B:BIOC.0000048449.17573.9f
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:1942457138
SN - 0960-3115
VL - 13
SP - 2551
EP - 2566
JO - Biodiversity and Conservation
JF - Biodiversity and Conservation
IS - 13
ER -