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  • Changes in function and temporal variation in a guild of gall-parasitoids across a temperature gradient in Australian subtropical rainforest

    Author(s)
    Hall, Casey R
    Burwell, Chris J
    Kitching, Roger L
    Griffith University Author(s)
    Kitching, Roger L.
    Year published
    2016
    Metadata
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    Abstract
    Parasitoids play an important role in ecosystem functioning through their influence on herbivorous insect populations. Theoretical and experimental evidence suggest that increased species richness can enhance and stabilize ecosystem function. It is important to understand how richness-driven functional relationships change across environmental gradients. We investigated how temperature affected the relationship between parasitoid richness and parasitism rate in a guild of gall-parasitoids along an elevational gradient. We collected galls at 15 sites along five elevational gradients (between 762 m and 1145 m asl) on six ...
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    Parasitoids play an important role in ecosystem functioning through their influence on herbivorous insect populations. Theoretical and experimental evidence suggest that increased species richness can enhance and stabilize ecosystem function. It is important to understand how richness-driven functional relationships change across environmental gradients. We investigated how temperature affected the relationship between parasitoid richness and parasitism rate in a guild of gall-parasitoids along an elevational gradient. We collected galls at 15 sites along five elevational gradients (between 762 m and 1145 m asl) on six occasions over a year. A total of 1902 insects, including 1593 parasitoids, were reared from 12 402 galls. Parasitism rate increased significantly with temperature on all sampling occasions, except December and February. We found a significant, positive richness–parasitism relationship. This relationship, however, was weaker at higher elevations which may be linked to decreased functional efficiency of parasitoids at lower temperatures. Temporal variability in parasitism rate and parasitoid richness were significantly related, regardless of temperature. A stable functional guild of this kind may provide a more reliable ecosystem service under environmental changes.
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    Journal Title
    Austral Ecology
    DOI
    https://doi.org/10.1111/aec.12283
    Note
    This publication has been entered into Griffith Research Online as an Advanced Online Version.
    Subject
    Environmental sciences
    Other environmental sciences not elsewhere classified
    Biological sciences
    Publication URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/10072/141186
    Collection
    • Journal articles

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