Dissertation Research: Indirect Interactions Mediated by Changing Plant Chemistry: Does Beaver Browsing Benefit Beetles?

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9311210 Whitham Primary work has detect an interaction involving beavers, leaf beetles, and cottonwood trees: beetles appear to hypothesis that beetles benefit from beaver herbivory. cottonwoods contain salicin, a chemical that is an effective defense against mammalian herbivores but is sequestered and used by the beetles for their own defense, the PIs pose that beetles are attracted to beaver-cut trees because the resprout growth is both nutritionally superior and chemically better defended. Beetles fed resprout growth develop faster, weigh more at maturity, and are better defended against predators than those fed nonresprout growth. This study expands previous work to assess whether 1) resprout cottonwood is nutritionally a better food resource for beetles and 2) resprout cotton wood contains more defensive chemicals that directly benefit the beetles. The study also examines the importance of beaver herbivory in affecting the distribution of beetles and will examine the generality of this interaction by censuring other river systems. %%% Indirect interactions between distantly related taxed have rarely been studied in detail. The current study focuses on such on interaction. This is important to identify in the cottonwood system because beavers are keystone species that can alter the environment at the landscape level, & cottonwoods are currently suffering widespread dieback in the western US.. ***