Effects of phylogeny, leaf traits, and the altitudinal distribution of host plants on herbivore assemblages on congeneric Acer species

Abstract

Historical, niche-based, and stochastic processes have been proposed as the mechanisms that drive community assembly. In plant-herbivore systems, these processes can correspond to phylogeny, leaf traits, and the distribution of host plants, respectively. Although patterns of herbivore assemblages among plant species have been repeatedly examined, the effects of these factors among co-occurring congeneric host plant species have rarely been studied. Our aim was to reveal the process of community assembly for herbivores by investigating the effects of phylogeny, leaf traits, and the altitudinal distribution of closely related host plants of the genus Acer. We sampled leaf functional traits for 30 Acer species in Japan. Using a newly constructed phylogeny, we determined that three of the six measured leaf traits (leaf thickness, C/N ratio, and condensed tannin content) showed a phylogenetic signal. In a field study, we sampled herbivore communities on 14 Acer species within an elevation gradient and examined relationships between herbivore assemblages and host plants. We found that herbivore assemblages were significantly correlated with phylogeny, leaf traits, phylogenetic signals, and the altitudinal distribution of host plants. Our results indicate that the interaction between historical and current ecological processes shapes herbivore community assemblages.

Influence of plant resistance traits in selectiveness and species strength in a tropical plant‐herbivore network

“…We transformed data of leaf traits to homogenize variances and linearize relationships between variables. Th e scores of each principal component represent particular combinations of diff erent resistance traits and can be used as a proxy of a defensive index ( Barber and Marquis, 2011 ;Pearse and Hipp, 2012 ;Nakadai et al, 2014 ).…”

Patterns of temporal and enemy niche use by a community of leaf cone moths (Caloptilia) coexisting on maples (Acer) as revealed by metabarcoding

“…Twenty‐eight Acer species occur in Japan (Nakadai et al . ), and a previous study confirmed 14 Acer ‐feeding Caloptilia species; 13 of the 14 Caloptilia species formed a monophyletic group, together with a Toxicodendron ‐feeding Caloptilia , in the global Caloptilia phylogeny and thus are very closely related (Nakadai & Kawakita ). We investigated the phenology (i.e.…”

“…Phylogenetic relationships of the 10 Caloptilia species, pruned from the global Caloptilia phylogeny (Nakadai & Kawakita ), and those of the nine Acer species, pruned from the global phylogeny of Japanese Acer (Nakadai et al . ), are shown. To facilitate interpretation, Caloptilia species with similar host plant use are placed close to each other.…”

“…In temperate Japan, as many as 20 Acer species can occur in a single location (Nakadai et al . ), which may host to up to 10 sympatric Caloptilia species, as predicted from the geographical distribution of leaf cone moths (Nakadai & Kawakita ). Twenty‐eight Acer species occur in Japan (Nakadai et al .…”

Nurse plants transfer more nitrogen to distantly related species

“…However, despite the above mentioned ecological effects, there is evidence that foliar N concentration is evolutionarily conserved (Nakadai et al. , Oguro and Sakai , Werner et al. ), so that these exceptions to the general rule are unlikely to affect the generality of the reported phylogenetically conserved source–sink N gradient among species.…”