Honeydew density in mixed<i>Nothofagus</i>forest, Westland, New Zealand

Kelly, Dave

doi:10.1080/0028825x.1990.10412343

Cited by 13 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…Law and Chidel, 2008) and plant species (e.g. Kelly, 1990; and thus with habitat succession. In restored habitats, ant assemblage structure is potentially driven by the availability and composition of carbohydrate resources, which depends to some extent on the prevalence of nectar and honeydew.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does the availability of arboreal honeydew determine the prevalence of ecologically dominant ants in restored habitats?

Gibb

Cunningham

2009

Insect. Soc.

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Ants are extensive users of arboreal sugars, but little is known about how ecological dominance or habitat succession influences this interaction. We investigated how the availability and use of arboreal sugar resources by ants changes across a restoration chronosequence. We surveyed the use and availability of hemipteran honeydew and floral nectar on the two dominant plant genera, Eucalyptus and Acacia, in study sites in south eastern Australia. Sugars used by ants are likely to drive their role as ecosystem engineers, while sugars not used by ants remain available to other organisms. We also tested whether the use of sugars differed between ecologically dominant and nondominant ants; taxa likely to perform different functions in ecosystems. No floral nectar was available on Acacia, but later successional eucalypts supported more floral resources and fewer mutualist hemiptera. Successional stage significantly affected how much sugar remained unexploited by ants, with similar trends for ant use of sugars. Non-dominant ants used mainly floral nectar, while hemipteran honeydew resources were used disproportionately by dominant ants, consistent with the prediction that this group monopolises persistent carbohydrate resources. This pattern was similar across successional stages, but the difference was least in habitats with the greatest availability of floral nectar, suggesting that high sugar availability may reduce the incentive to defend honeydew. Across habitat types, the proportion of dominant ants increased with the availability of hemipteran honeydew. This suggests that honeydew availability may regulate ecological dominance, thus affecting ant-driven ecosystem processes.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does the availability of arboreal honeydew determine the prevalence of ecologically dominant ants in restored habitats?

Gibb

Cunningham

2009

Insect. Soc.

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“…In contrast, Kelly (1990) found that intermediate-sized trees harbored significantly greater tube densities while the small trees and thin upper branches bore almost no scale insects. Even the thinnest branches of oak trees in Chiconquiaco were found to frequently harbor scale insects.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Alteration of Forest Structure Modifies the Distribution of Scale Insect,Stigmacoccus garmilleri, in Mexican Tropical Montane Cloud Forests

Gamper

Koptur

García-Franco

et al. 2011

Journal of Insect Science

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Stigmacoccus garmilleri Foldi (Hemiptera: Margarodidae) is an ecologically important honeydew-producing scale insect associated with oak trees (Quercus spp.) in highland forests of Veracruz, Mexico. The honeydew exudates of S. garmilleri serve as a significant nutrient source to many species of birds, insects, and sooty molds. Oak trees found in the forest interior, forest edge, and those scattered in pasture areas support scale insect colonies, though the pattern of insect infestations on trees within these varying landscape types has not been elucidated. This study aims to describe the distribution of scale insect infestation and any distinctions in honeydew production based on tree location. Scale insect density, honeydew volume, and sugar concentration were surveyed throughout a continuous landscape that included both patches of forest and scattered pasture trees. In addition, the anal filament through which the honeydew drop is secreted was also measured and was experimentally removed to test and measure regrowth. Scale insect densities on tree trunks were greatest on pasture trees, while intermediate densities were found on trees at the forest edge, and low densities on interior forest trees, suggesting that trees in disturbed areas are more susceptible to scale insect infestation. Trees with small diameters at breast height had significantly higher insect densities than trees with medium to large diameters. Trunk aspect (North, South, East, and West) was not a significant determinant of scale insect density. In forested areas higher densities of scale insects were found at three meters height in comparison to lower heights. Sugar concentrations and drop volumes of honeydew in forest and pasture areas were not significantly different. However, scale-insect anal tubes/filaments were significantly longer in pasture than they were in forests. Sugar concentrations of honeydew appeared to be positively correlated with temperature and negatively correlated with relative humidity. Experiments indicated that anal filaments could grow approximately 4 mm every 24 hours, and average tube growth was significantly faster in pasture than in forest, suggesting that there may be a physiological effect on the insect due to landscape disturbance. The results obtained in this study describe the increases in scale insect infestation of trees with forest disturbance. The effect of these increased scale insect densities on the host tree physiology is still to be resolved.

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“…The apparent superior fitness of mountain beech crawlers, and the results from previous studies showing that mountain beech trees are often more heavily infested with scale insects than other beech tree species (Wardle 1984; but see Kelly 1990), suggests that mountain beech is the optimal host species for Ultracoelostoma. However, the specific characteristics of the host tree that affect beech scale insect fitness are unknown.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Establishment success of sooty beech scale insects, Ultracoelostoma sp., on different host tree species in New Zealand

Wardhaugh

Didham²

2006

Journal of Insect Science

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The sooty beech scale insect (Ultracoelostoma sp.) (Hemiptera: Margarodidae) exhibits a highly patchy distribution at local and regional scales. A major factor driving this common distributional phenomenon in other phloem-feeding insects is aggregation and local adaptation. The aim of this study was to determine if Ultracoelostoma was locally adapted to its natal host trees, by contrasting the establishment rates of first instar “crawlers” in reciprocal transfers to natal versus novel hosts. Although there are two closely-related species of sooty beech scale insect, the morphological characters of crawlers in this study were intermediate between those of U. assimile and U. brittini. However, all of the voucher specimens examined had consistent morphology, indicating that they belong to one species which we refer to as Ultracoelostoma sp. Reciprocal transfers of crawlers were carried out between individual red beech (Nothofagus fusca), as well as between mountain beech (N. solandri) and red beech trees, to ascertain if insects had become locally adapted to their individual host tree or to host species. In total, 480 crawlers were placed in enclosures on their natal and novel host trees, of which only 32 (6.7 %) became established. No evidence for local adaptation, either to individual host trees or to host tree species, was found. There was also no difference in crawler establishment between natal and novel hosts. However, crawlers originating from mountain beech trees had significantly higher establishment rates on both natal mountain beech and novel red beech hosts, than did crawlers originating from red beech trees. The superior ability of mountain beech crawlers to become established, even on novel red beech trees, suggests that scale insects on mountain beech trees have higher individual fitness (possibly due to maternal effects mediated by differences in host nutritional quality, defensive compounds or growth rate). This increased fitness may result in crawlers being better provisioned to search for appropriate establishment sites. The results of this study indicate that beech scale insects perform better on mountain beech at this site, although crawlers did not preferentially establish on mountain beech.

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Honeydew density in mixedNothofagusforest, Westland, New Zealand

Cited by 13 publications

References 5 publications

Does the availability of arboreal honeydew determine the prevalence of ecologically dominant ants in restored habitats?

Does the availability of arboreal honeydew determine the prevalence of ecologically dominant ants in restored habitats?

Alteration of Forest Structure Modifies the Distribution of Scale Insect,Stigmacoccus garmilleri, in Mexican Tropical Montane Cloud Forests

Establishment success of sooty beech scale insects, Ultracoelostoma sp., on different host tree species in New Zealand

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