Indirect interactions and community processes: impacts of hemi-parasitic plants on the structure of insect herbivore communities.

间接相互作用和群落过程：半寄生植物对昆虫草食动物群落结构的影响。

基本信息

批准号：
NE/D012333/1
负责人：
Sue Hartley
金额：
$ 39.03万
依托单位：
University of Sussex
依托单位国家：
英国
项目类别：
Research Grant
财政年份：
2006
资助国家：
英国
起止时间：
2006 至无数据
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=NE%2FD012333%2F1
关键词：
Indirect interactions community processes impacts

项目摘要

Yellow-rattle is a parasitic plant that steals resources from other plants (host plants) via root connections. Water and nutrients are diverted from the host into the yellow-rattle, reducing the growth of the host. This may make the host less suitable for insects which also live on the host plant, particularly those that feed on the same water and nutrient supply as the yellow-rattle. Previous experiments in greenhouses have shown that insects which are fed on host plants infected with yellow-rattle are twice as likely to die than those feeding on uninfected hosts, but no one has measured these effects in natural communities where there are many different insects and plants. As well as making host plants less suitable for insects to feed on, yellow-rattle can also reduce the number of host plants for the insects - it prefers to infect grasses so in places where there is a lot of yellow-rattle the amount of grass decreases and grass-feeding insects may also decrease. This has not been tested yet, nor do scientists know whether it is the changes in the amount of grass or the changes in the suitability of the host plants which have the biggest effect on insects. We plan to find out how yellow-rattle affects the number and type of insect herbivores that are living in the same ecological community. We expect that grass-feeding species of insects will be reduced in number, but insects feeding on host plants that are not attacked by yellow-rattle will increase when the yellow-rattle is present. We think yellow-rattle will cause these effects in two ways: (1) by changing the balance of plant species living in the community and (2) by changing the suitability of the infected plants for insects. We will investigate which of these effects is the most important. We will also test the ability of individual insect species to grow and reproduce on plants with and without yellow-rattle present and find out whether insects avoid feeding on infected plants.

黄摩托车是一种寄生植物，可通过根连接从其他植物（寄主植物）中窃取资源。水和养分从宿主转移到黄色摩托车，减少了宿主的生长。这可能会使宿主不太适合也生活在宿主植物上的昆虫，尤其是那些以与黄摩托相同的水和营养供应为食的昆虫。以前在温室中进行的实验表明，在感染黄色摇滚的寄主植物上喂食的昆虫死亡的可能性是未感染宿主的昆虫，但没有人在许多不同的昆虫和植物的自然社区中测量了这些影响。除了使宿主植物不适合昆虫食用的宿主植物还可以减少昆虫的宿主植物的数量 - 它更喜欢感染草，因此在有很多黄色果皮的地方，草的数量减少和喂食昆虫也可能会减少。尚未对此进行测试，科学家也不知道对草的数量的变化或寄主植物的适用性变化对昆虫的影响最大。我们计划找出黄色牛排如何影响生活在同一生态群落中的昆虫食草动物的数量和类型。我们预计，喂食昆虫的种类将减少，但是在存在黄色冰棍时，以黄摩托攻击的宿主植物的昆虫会增加。我们认为黄色摩托车将通过两种方式引起这些影响：（1）通过改变社区中的植物物种的平衡以及（2）通过更改感染植物对昆虫的适用性。我们将研究其中哪种效果是最重要的。我们还将测试单个昆虫物种在存在和没有黄色的植物上生长和繁殖的能力，并找出昆虫是否避免以感染植物为食。