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

Ivette PerfectoPerfecto将调查墨西哥南部咖啡农业生态系统中生物多样性的功能。 这项研究将集中在与脊椎动物和无脊椎动物捕食者减少食草动物及其对咖啡生产力的影响有关的过程。 主要目标是：1）通过三组食虫动物量化捕食对咖啡植物中节肢动物组合的影响（鸟类、蚂蚁和蜘蛛），2）量化这种食虫性对累积食草动物损害的影响，以及植物繁殖输出，第三章确定不同捕食者沿着管理强度梯度的丰度和多样性的变化，并将其与捕食者对节肢动物种群和草食动物损害，4）评估捕食者对咖啡草食动物影响的季节变化，沿着一个强化梯度，和5）检查一些主要的相互作用之间的3个主要群体的捕食者。 指导这项工作的一般假设是，自上而下的控制农业生态系统可以限制草食动物和多样性丰富的捕食者的影响程度的限制。

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.