RUI: Interactions Between Insect Herbivores and Disturbance in Influencing Plant Succession: A Mechanistic Approach

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9408029 Bach This project will investigate the effects of insect herbivory and abiotic disturbance on rates and patterns of primary succession on sand dunes, with emphasis on the colonizing plant Salix cordata and the specialist folivorous beetle Altica subplicata. This project will examine the effect of sand burial and flooding (two natural disturbances) on Salix performance and plant succession, and the interaction between herbivory and disturbance in influencing sand-dune succession. There has been only limited study of the interactive effects of disturbance and herbivory on succession, yet such interactions may have major influences on the course of community change. All biological communities are in a state of successional change. Understanding the mechanisms that drive this change will improve our ability to manage altered ecosystems and biological preserves, promote ecosystem recovery, and mitigate the loss of biological diversity.