Our results show that pests such as Nosema spp. and pest control methods alter the composition of bee gut microorganisms, which may have severe consequences for pathogen defense, physiology and general honey bee health. In addition, L. plantarum has potential as a biocontrol agent against Nosema spp. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry.

Forest succession can influence herbivore communities through changes in host availability, plant quality, microclimate, canopy structure complexity and predator abundance. It is not well known, however, if such influence is constant across years.Caterpillars have been reported to be particularly susceptible to changes in plant community composition across forest succession, as most species are specialists and rely on the presence of their hosts. Nevertheless, in the case of tropical dry forests, plant species have less defined successional boundaries than tropical wet forests, and hence herbivore communities should be able to persist across different successional stages. To test this prediction, caterpillar communities were surveyed during eight consecutive years in a tropical dry forest in four replicated successional stages in Chamela, Jalisco and Mexico. Lepidopteran species richness and diversity were equivalent in mature forests and early successional stages, but a distinctive caterpillar community was found for the recently abandoned pastures. Species composition tended to converge among all four successional stages during the span of eight years.Overall, our results highlight the importance of both primary and secondary forest for the conservation of caterpillar biodiversity at a landscape level. We also highlight the relevance of long-term studies when assessing the influence of forest succession to account for across year variation in species interactions and climatic factors.Abstract in French is available with online material.

Question: Is plant capacity to regrow under different herbivore treatments related to herbivore increaser/decreaser plant status? Location: Grassland in Southeast England (GR 41/944691). Methods: A field experiment was established in order to understand the role of plant tolerance to herbivory in explaining the abundance of nine grassland species previously known as herbivore increasers or decreasers. Tolerance was measured as a plant's capacity to regrow after exposure to herbivores. The experiment was designed to measure the impact of rabbits, molluscs, insects and clipping (artificial damage). Plants were propagated by stolons, exposed to different treatments in the field and then allowed to recover in the greenhouse for a month. Results: Previous studies have stated that plants that are able to persist in a herbivore environment could be tolerant or resistant, in agreement with the later our results showed that rabbit increaser plants were tolerant to herbivory in terms of biomass regrowth. Nonetheless, insect and mollusc increasers did not show any particular pattern related to plant compensation and some decreaser species were intolerant. Conclusions: This study shows that tolerance to herbivory could be an important mechanism for rabbit increaser species survival in grazed ecosystems.