Ranking Lepidopteran Use of Native Versus Introduced Plants

Abstract

In light of the wide-scale replacement of native plants in North America with introduced, invasive species and noninvasive ornamental plants that evolved elsewhere, we compared the value of native and introduced plants in terms of their ability to serve as host plants for Lepidoptera. Insect herbivores such as Lepidoptera larvae are critically important components of terrestrial food webs and any reduction in their biomass or diversity due to the loss of acceptable host plants is predicted to reduce the production of the many insectivores in higher trophic levels. We conducted an exhaustive search of host records in the literature. We used the data we gathered to rank all 1385 plant genera that occur in the mid-Atlantic states of the United States by their ability to support Lepidoptera richness. Statistical comparisons were made with Welch's test for equality of means. Woody plants supported more species of moths and butterflies than herbaceous plants, native plants supported more species than introduced plants, and native woody plants with ornamental value supported more Lepidoptera species than introduced woody ornamentals. All these differences were highly significant. Our rankings provide a relative measure that will be useful for restoration ecologists, landscape architects and designers, land managers, and landowners who wish to raise the carrying capacity of particular areas by selecting plants with the greatest capacity for supporting biodiversity. Clasificación del Uso de Plantas Nativas Versus Introducidas por LepidópterosResumen: A la luz del reemplazo a gran escala de plantas nativas en Norte América con especies de plantas ornamentales introducidas, invasoras y no invasoras, que evolucionaron en otra parte, comparamos el valor de plantas nativas e introducidas en términos de su habilidad para funcionar como plantas huésped de Lepidoptera. Los insectos herbívoros como las larvas de lepidópteros son componentes críticamente importantes para las redes tróficas terrestres y se predice que cualquier reducción en su biomasa o diversidad debido a la pérdida de plantas huésped aceptables disminuirá la producción de muchos insectívoros en niveles tróficos superiores. Realizamos una búsqueda exhaustiva de registros de huéspedes en la literatura. Utilizamos los datos recabados para clasificar a los 1385 géneros de plantas que ocurren en los estados del medio Atlántico de los Estados Unidos por su habilidad para soportar riqueza de Lepidoptera. Realizamos comparaciones estadísticas con la prueba de Welch para igualdad de medias. Las plantas leñosas soportaron más especies de polillas y mariposas que las plantas herbáceas, las plantas nativas soportaron más especies que las especies introducidas, y las plantas leñosas nativas con valor ornamental soportaron más especies de Lepidópteros que las ornamentales leñosas introducidas. Todas estas diferencias fueron muy significativas. Nuestras clasificaciones proporcionan una medida relativa que seráútil para ecólogos restauradores, arquitectos y diseñadores de paisaje...

Artificial Light at Night Reduces Daily Energy Expenditure in Breeding Great Tits (Parus major)

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The fire—oak literature of eastern North America: synthesis and guidelines

“…Among the genera of woody plant species native to the mid-Atlantic region, oak ranks first in the ability to support native butterfly and moth (Lepidoptera) species (Fig. 3) (Tallamy and Shropshire 2009). The authors documented that the larva of 534 native lepidopteran species consume oak leaves.…”

Non‐native plants reduce abundance, richness, and host specialization in lepidopteran communities

“…Host plant specialization was determined for each species in two ways. First, we conducted an exhaustive literature search of host records for each Lepidoptera species collected (Tallamy and Shropshire 2009). Following Bernays and Graham (1988), species recorded in the literature on three or fewer plant families were considered specialists, while species recorded on more than three plant families were labeled generalists.…”

“…A small percentage is more generalized in their use of host plants, and despite their low diversity can be far more common than specialists (Futuyma and Gould 1979). However, even the most generalized insect herbivores use only a small fraction of the plants in their environments (Tallamy and Shropshire 2009). Moreover, many generalists are far more specialized locally than their geographic host breadth indicates (Fox and Morrow 1981, Scriber 1983, Tallamy et al 2010.…”