Interspecific competition influences the organization of a diverse sessile insect community

Plant phenological asynchrony and community structure of gall‐inducing insects associated with a tropical tree species

“…The intimate temporal relationship between the life cycle of gall‐inducing insects and the occurrence of the target organ in an asynchronic host plant population can intensify the dispute for sites for oviposition, generating a pattern of temporal repulse among galling insects. Recent studies using analysis of co‐occurrence have shown that interspecific competition is a mechanism capable of shaping the community structure of sessile herbivores (e.g., Cornelissen & Stiling, ; Cornelissen et al., ; Tack et al., ). The results of the null model analysis showed that the values of co‐occurrence indices of galls of the observed matrices were greater than the co‐occurrence indices of simulated matrices.…”

Variation in community structure of gall‐inducing insects associated with a tropical plant supports the hypothesis of competition in stressful habitats

“…However, competition importance is disputable, especially for phytophagous insects, and some authors argue that food resources were not a limiting factor, and therefore, competition would be absent or very weak (Hairston, Smith, & Slobodkin, ; Strong, ). Later, with rising knowledge about plant defenses, the role of competition has gained prominence (Kaplan & Denno, ; Murdoch, ; Reitz & trumble, ), and recent studies have highlighted the important role of competition for phytophagous insect community structure (Cornelissen, de Carvalho Guimarães, Rodrigues Viana, & Silva, ; Kaplan & Denno, ). Indirect mechanisms, such as extreme or unstable environmental conditions, can now be incorporated into models to help understand the role of competition in assembling communities in climate change scenarios.…”

“…The structure of gall‐inducing insect communities can be determined by environmental factors (Blanche, ; Butterill & Novotny, ; Craig, Itami, & Craig, ; Cuevas‐Reyes, Quesada, & Oyama, ; da Costa, de Siqueira Neves, de Oliveira Silva, & Fagundes, ; Price, ), by top‐down (Fagundes, Neves, & Fernandes, ; Price, ) or bottom‐up (Egan & Ott, ; Espírito‐Santo, de S. Neves, Andrade‐Neto, & Fernandes, ; Hunter & Price, ; Malinga, Valtonen, Nyeko, Vesterinen, & Roininen, ) mechanisms, and by interactions that occur within the same trophic level, such as interspecific competition (Cornelissen et al, ; Fagundes & Fernandes, ; Fagundes et al, ). Studies have reported that the results of interspecific interactions involving phytophagous insects can be habitat‐dependent (Kuchenbecker & Fagundes, ).…”

“…For example, gall‐inducing insects have high specificity with regard to their host plant and the target organ to oviposition (Carneiro et al, ; Joy & Crespi, ) they synchronize the oviposition period with the plant phenological period, where there is growth but the tissues are not yet lignified (Whitham, ; Yukawa, ). Soon after oviposition, hatched larvae of galling insects induce rapid morphological and physiological changes in host plant tissue, draining resources for their own development (Höglund, ; Ollerstam, Rohfritsch, Höglund, & Larsson, ), which potentially interferes with the oviposition behavior of females of other gall‐inducing insects species (Cornelissen et al, ). Because they are sessile and highly specific, galls are excellent models for understanding the effects of interspecific competition on community structuring (Cornelissen et al, ; Fagundes et al, ).…”

“…Soon after oviposition, hatched larvae of galling insects induce rapid morphological and physiological changes in host plant tissue, draining resources for their own development (Höglund, ; Ollerstam, Rohfritsch, Höglund, & Larsson, ), which potentially interferes with the oviposition behavior of females of other gall‐inducing insects species (Cornelissen et al, ). Because they are sessile and highly specific, galls are excellent models for understanding the effects of interspecific competition on community structuring (Cornelissen et al, ; Fagundes et al, ).…”