Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function: Top Down Control of Herbivory by Birds and Invertebrate Predators in the Coffee Agroecosystem

ivette PerfectoPerfecto将研究墨西哥南部咖啡农业生态系统中生物多样性的功能。该研究将重点关注脊椎动物和无脊椎动物捕食者减少草食的过程及其对咖啡产量的影响。主要目标是：1)量化了三种食虫动物（鸟类、蚂蚁和蜘蛛）对咖啡树节肢动物种群的影响；2)量化了这种食虫动物对累积食草动物损害和植物繁殖输出的影响；3)确定了不同捕食者的丰度和多样性随管理强度的梯度变化，并将其与捕食者对节肢动物种群和食草动物损害的不同程度的影响联系起来。4)研究了捕食者对咖啡草食动物影响的季节变化及其强化梯度；5)研究了三大类捕食者之间的主要相互作用。指导这项工作的一般假设是，对农业生态系统自上而下的控制可以限制草食，而捕食者的多样性和丰度影响限制的程度。

AWARD ABSTRACTDEB 9981526Ivette PerfectoPerfecto will investigate the function of biological diversity in a coffee agroecosystem in southern Mexico. The research will focus on processes associated with the reduction of herbivory by vertebrate and invertebrate predators and their impact on coffee productivity. The main objectives are to: 1) quantify the impact of predation on the assemblage of arthropods in coffee plants by three groups of insectivores (birds, ants and spiders), 2) quantify the impact of this insectivory on cumulative herbivore damage, as well as plant reproductive output, 3) determine the change in abundance and diversity of different predators along a gradient of management intensity and relate this to different levels of impact of predators on arthropod populations and herbivore damage, 4) assess the seasonal variation of the impact of predators on herbivores of coffee along an intensification gradient, and 5) examine some of the major interactions among the 3 major groups of predators. The general hypotheses guiding this work are that top down control of agroecosystems can limit herbivory and that diversity & abundance of predators affect the degree of limitation.