Indirect interaction webs : a new approach exploring networks of interacting species

通过田间试验，我们研究了植物的性状介导的间接效应如何影响节肢动物群落的多样性、丰度和结构，以及这些效应如何反过来促进群落成员的性状进化。我们在进化-社区反馈方面获得了以下重要发现：（1）植食动物的攻击导致的植物性状的变化极大地改变了物种多样性、相对丰度以及植食动物和捕食者的群落组成;（2）植食动物引起的性状变化在暂时分离的群落中引发了自下而上的营养级联，（3）杨柳叶甲对新叶的选择性很大程度上取决于植食后次生生长的强度，这种选择性反映了迅速的性状进化。

Using field experiments, we investigated how trait-mediated indirect effects of plants influence diversity, abundance, and structure of arthropod communities, and how these effects in turn promote the trait evolution of community members. We obtained following important findings in terms of evolution-community feedbacks : (1) changes in plant traits due to herbivore attack greatly altered species diversity, relative abundance, and community composition of herbivores and predators, (2) herbivore-induced trait change initiated bottom-up trophic cascades in a temporally-separated community, (3) the preference of willow leaf beetle to new leaves largely depends on the strength of secondary growth following herbivory, and this new leaf preference suggests rapid trait evolution.